The Hamlet Project

This tangent of the ghost
Would seem to suggest
That, from his ghostly purgatory,
He has some privileged views
Of the world he left behind.
Did he stand (ephemerally) by
Watching his widow get seduced by his brother?
Did he watch the woman
He thought of as So Virtous
Listen carefully to his brother’s proposition?
Did he see her resist for a bit
Then suddenly relent?
Did he watch his brother
Touch first his widow’s hand, then her arm?
Was he looking when Claudius moved a strand of Gertrude’s hair
Away from her face and went in to kiss her?
Did he watch her respond?
Did he see the desire between them grow just where he’d thought there would
Always be ice cold chastity?
It might be worse than the daily purifying flames to witness such things.