Alas, Poor Hamlet, I Knew Him!

The Portrait of Anna & Friedrick, by Alexander Shubin

It is no surprise that Shubin's portrait reminds me of Hamlet.  Ah, but what if... Ophelia is somehow resurrected, and cradles, in a mixture of desire and derision, his remains?



Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.