Biss or Bissn't

"Biss or bissn’t,"
said the Bard.

"That’ll ‘av’ee."

He stroked his beard

and raised a can of Light.

I said "I thought you’d sound

more like a Brummie.

And yet you talks like we.

That can’t be right?"

He said, "I am the universal poet.

Through time and tosh, through dialects and dust.

The Prince of Denmark must be multi-lingual,

To speak to everyone as they shall trust."

He lit his long clay pipe. He sat there thinking.

"Perchance," he said, "we sleep and dream alone?

We sail the Sea of Troubles in our dinghy

and let the fardels sink us like a stone."

"Oh, no," I said. "You mean it’s all imagined?

This isn’t real and you’re not drinking beer?"

But Shakespeare shook his head and said

"I’m joking!

Raise a flagon!

Biss or bissn’t!

I be here."