Anne Hathaway's Dream

I dreamed, Will.

I dreamed of London and its crowds,

its noise and even its city stink

I dreamed of hearing the Danish prince

and the Scot usurper and St. Crispin’s Day

and the king’s daughters,

and seeing them, Will, in garish torchlight.

I dreamed I saw the Queen, Will,

nodding to the crowd as she walked

by the white hall palace, and I chanced

a smile, Will, and she returned it.

I dreamed I saw the river, Will, and rode

a barge close by the Globe.

And nobles in the finery and common folk

in plain dress, both clean and dirty, and I dodged

the bedpan emptied from above,

and I watched the crowd watch a hanging

or two. Or three. They brought refreshments

with them.

And the food, Will, the food in the taverns,

and the drinking with Marlowe and the Earl,

and the laughter and the arguments and seeing

them all, even you, scratch quills on parchment.

I don’t want to die too soon, Will.

I want to dream again.

I want to dream, Will.

Tweetspeak Poetry has a prompt about William Shakespeare and dreams. Take a look and write your own dream poem.

Painting of Anne Hathaway Shakespeare by Roger Brian Dunn (2010) based on a drawing by Nathaniel Curzon (1708).