In Defense of the Bard

Regarding the article, “For the Bard, Slings and Arrows” (Times, April 23):

What today shall a poor boy do

When his hero is found to be a fake;

This intrepid morning he shall rue

Reading the words of a snooty rake.

Jesus was naught but a prototype Elvis

And Columbus only another sham,

Shakespeare, poor heart, a hayseed truthless,

An illiterate, low class, grain peddling ham .

But in the beauteous day I’ll believe the thief

And not the jealous, whiny Vere,

Who’s far too educated to believe a leaf

of the ignoramus, that ingenuous Shakespeare.

For Vere only proves in his bombast,

That all geniuses are not of his caste.

CHRIS THOMAS

West Los Angeles