They thee, whom thou delighted with thine art
through decades as the darling of the stage,
denounce for daring to retake the part
of the mad Dane – yes – on the grounds of age.

But what is age in play, a play that age
knows not, will not and never has it known:
despair, decay, abuse and treason, rage
from Aeschylus to Shakespeare… are our own!

They are our own today but, were it not
for theatre’s magic mirroring effect,
we’d think them horrors of another lot
who’d think the same of you and me, I bet.

And thus I thank thee for your noble dare,
a well-timed timeless testimony of care.