Monday, January 14, 2008

Here was a Table , When comes another? A Parody of Mark Antony's Speech

Sisters and Brothers of my staffroom,
Lend me your eyes.

I come to mourn the loss of our Old Table,
not to praise it.

The evil of things present remain while they live,
The good is oft remembered when they are gone.
So let it be with the Old Table.
The Noble Madam has sent us new tables.
As they are new, they are sleek and attractive.
And attractive we do find them.

Sit I to write in the Old Table's memory
It was a friend, sometimes shaky and ugly to me
But Sreekumar has given us new tables
And Sreekumar is an honourable man.

I write not to show ingratitude to Birbal and the rest
But I write what I do feel.
It had held up many books and files for years
whose numbers did the general mess increase.
Was this a cause for discarding the Table?
Yet we all said it should be discarded.
And sure, we are all honourable people.

You all did know that the Table
stood ten years in the staffroom
And ten years did it serve us well (...er...?)
Did this in the Table seem dispensable?
When the teachers have partied
The Table hath held up the food.
Dispensability should be made of weaker stuff.
You all did need the table once, not without cause-
What cause witholds you then, to mourn for it?

O Judgement thou art fled to heartless beasts and the teachers have lost their reason!

Bear with me. My heart weeps for the Table lost somewhere,
And I must pause till it come back.

------------------


Written on the occasion when handsome New tables replaced the rickety Old one.

KEY:-

Madam- Principal.
Sreekumar- School Manager.
Birbal- Carpenter.

I give you the original

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