The Hamlet Project

Where is the rest of Horatio?
What part made it to Denmark
And what did he leave in Wittenberg?
Or Bologna or wherever
Horatio calls home.
He has divided himself into pieces
Boxed up the parts he won’t need
And put them under protection somewhere
Is there a piece of him in a lock box
Guarded by a man with a gun?
Perhaps a woman has wrapped up a section
In a red velvet square
Folded it carefully
Tied it with a black silk ribbon
And placed it under her pillow for safe keeping.
His mother, maybe, has a big cardboard box
Bound up with paper and twine
That she keeps in the cupboard.
His father carries a small flat stone in his pocket.
His teacher, surrounded by books and paper
Has placed a bit in the pages of his book
And put it on a high shelf.
He sent something with Hamlet
A little packet of poems in a yellowing envelope
Which he knows is at the bottom of a trunk, buried deep for safety.
So he arrives here now, just a piece of him
The little bit he keeps in his body
The bit he keeps for himself.