DISCLAIMER: The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a public domain work.
RATING: T (for some violence, dark themes, and character death)
FEATURED CHARACTERS: King Hamlet, Claudius, Prince Hamlet
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is based on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. One thing that I've noticed seemed to fascinate Shakespeare was the idea of two brothers, one of whom betrays the other. It happens a lot—and I mean a LOT—in his plays: The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It... but nowhere is the idea of brotherhood and betrayal linked so famously as in Hamlet. So this is about King Hamlet (not to be confused with Prince Hamlet, his son and the titular character) and his murderous brother, Claudius.
About the poem itself: This idea had been floating around in my head for quite some time—literally years—before I actually wrote it. Then one day I was in one of my IMVU public rooms, The Poet's Lounge, and one of my guests urged my to try coming up with a poem on the spot, as I recited it. This is the result. I edited it a bit afterwards, but not much. What I'm trying to say is, I wrote it in the space of a few minutes, but I do hope it's still enjoyable. I personally rather like it, at any rate.
I may explore this theme in much greater depth at a later date.
Blood brothers
By blood bound in birth,
By blood ripped asunder,
By blood rejoined.
Blood bondage runs through the thin highway of veins,
So cruelly bound by love and hate together.
A murder flashes though the air, a drop of poison enters the wholesome blood,
And it slows, then ceases to flow.
He steals his brother's life, his throne, his wife,
His very breath.
Pride, self-loathing, bitterness, hatred... it drags him down,
Closer and closer to the cold dirt under which his brother lies interred;
Until revenge, the sharp poisoned point of a fencing foil, foils him,
And his blood flows onto the hungry earth that ate his blood brother.
Blood brothers...
Reunited at last
Within a tomb,
Their bones slumbering side by side.
Perhaps they meet again,
In the next life.