Jake's Flea Market

it was a day like any

through the upstairs hallway most 
of the afternoon had passed

all the doors out 
of the daylit hours remained closed

in the time behind one of those 
closed doors i slept
read   studied   wrote   
talked to myself   slept

then the habit of the years was broken

as the late afternoon sun lit
the hallway through a window   as i strolled
speechless up the time with a mute
hamlet   a hamlet so silent i’d 
become deaf i thought

a hamlet with a robe   draped
over him   a robe hooded 
draped over a prince

very like the robes   hooded 
draped over all the students

the robes hooded   draped over the monks

very like the robe   hooded   draped over me

as we wandered
up the shadows of the sunset   
toward the end of day

hamlet whispered 
so only i could hear
that his crowned father was dead   

that he the son
would be the next morning 
away to elsinore