He penned verse-drama with such ease
That his rivals he could tease
Greene called him upstart crow
And reading his lines even Marlowe
Raised eyebrow
Actor-playwright in theatre
Shrewd observer of human nature
In shylock he portrayed minority psyche
And callow youth's indecision
In Hamlet's 'to be or not be'
His songs immaculate as morning dew
Tell secrets of life in lines a few
'Friends, Romans and countrymen'
Till date remains rhetoric's unique acumen
It's true, he had jealous rivals and adversaries
But, then he had equally great contemporaries
He eventually surpassed established wits
And even outsmarted University Dramatists
Lear-Othello-Macbeth are pessimistic plays
But his sonnets are as sanguine as sunrays |
