"Romeo and Juliet" (& My Understandings)

"Romeo and Juliet (& my understandings)"

I’ve reread Romeo and Juliet

To the point I’ve memorized 

The entirety 

Of act one, scene five.

“If I profane

With my unworthiest hand”

This story

That the masses seem so keen on

“My lips

Two blushing pilgrims ready stand” 

To readily speak of my own theories. 

I don’t believe 

Love was ever the question,

But at first sight

We have begun to ask. 

I don’t believe

Devotion was the basis,

Yet fatally we tend to criticize. 

I rather think

The answer 

Is in the first few lines we know.

How Montagues and Capulets 

Have been at war 

For far

Too

Long.

And with the stage set

And prologue mostly done,

We see quarreling,

Prideful—

Shakespeare,

Swift with the feather

Ideas purposeful—

Put emphasis 

On ridicule.

As wars go,

Casualties are a given.

As disputes grow 

So does deniability.

What better metaphor

To destruction 

All human and inhuman simultaneously,

Than to have the innocence of love 

Exaggeratedly

Shattered by avoidable circumstances?

“Romeo and Juliet”

A warning, yes,

And commentary too.

But the love a needed part of it,

Juxtaposition,

To get the point across.

“Romeo and Juliet” 

Wasn’t a love story

To model by and for, 

But they were in love

As irony

To show

How such stories ended

The reach of hatred—

Poison.