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Shall they seduce thee with a cent per word?
Thou art so competent and more accurate
Rough winds do shake your land in a harsh way,
And mighty greenback hath all too heavy a weight
Sometime too hot the competition shines,
And often is your self esteem so dimm'd;
In many a bid your fee sometime declines
By economics changing course trimm'd;
But thy translation earnings shall not fade
Nor lose possession of the lore thou owest;
Nor shall Cheap brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When for a proper rate each time thou bidest:
So long as mind stays sharp and eyes can see
So long as you translate, be fair thine fees
Out, out brief candle! / How Macbeth eluded a bloodbath
Lady Macbeth's mini-letter to her husband:
A translator thou art, and a good one
and shalt earn what thou expect
yet do I fear our trade
is too full of the greed of clients
to earn what thou and we deserve.
****
Enter Macbeth, drunk and untidy: Lady Macbeth frowns at him.
Macbeth:
Spare me your anger, for I'm drunk and late
but the job done with Banquo was much praised!
So fear not, my fair Lady, about our rate,
since our payment was swift, and in fact, raised.
As we came back from many a happy hour
we passed by 'Toil & Trouble', a new outsourcer
(outsorcerer?), and heard a noise much sour:
three females voices singing in disorder...
****
Lady Mac reproaches her husband:
Thy face, my worthy Thane
speaketh of lust and self-indulgence
Thy foul odours betray thy statements.
I pray thee, my Lord:
Pour a ton of coffee unto your throat
and only then speak out truth.
Methought thy pursuit
was clients but not filth
What thou wouldst highly
that wouldst thou holily:
Screw thy devotion to translating
and morn shall find us with wealth plenty.
************
Answers Macbeth
I beg to thee, my dear, don't do me wrong
and never doubt my love belongs to you!
For I heard a job offer in that song.
And had serious business interview!
The women by the cauldron were not fair
and they dressed in a foulish, haggard way.
they smelled like swine, demented was their stare
(I guess today may be their Casual day)
I got the strangest offer this to-night
for an in-house position in our town
The admission seems to imply a bloody fight
but they promise to pay about a Crown!
Methinks they offer'd a me high position
but left unclear how will I start, and when.
The job is mainly Scottish monolingual
But there may be some English in the end.
****
Lady Mac may be persuasive...
Nay, nay, nay thou feeble creature
Come thee hither, back to the land of free-lance work
Art thou resigning the sweet potion of liberty, by chance?
The light of day hath seen marvels
at the time of collecting the checks.
Thirty days? Sixty days? What's the rub?"
****
And much future blood is averted...
Macbeth:
They talk of moving forests (are they crazy?)
They ask for a CUT tool (may be my sword?)
Their place is rather filthy, they look messy
and seem to have no entry in the Blue Board
I made my mind, thou broughtest me good sense:
Let Duncan keep his crown, lets sing and dance!
Let the Bard find ambition somewhere else
I�ll remain with my Lady as a freelance!
Grand finale, where Macbeth proclaims his views on some jobs
I would have miss�d my freedom thereafter.
Some jobs will hurt you harder than a sword.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
creeps in the gray routine from day to day,
and all and every day we're just their tools
till pink-slip day. You think you�ll handle,
you�re but a working shadow, a poor player
laboring every hour until one day
they will have you no more. You get expelled,
feel like an idiot, full of pain and fury,
and you�re left with nothing.
END
Note: this interactive play was improvised in the thread http://www.proz.com/topic/18622 with the very talented Claudia Bagnardi http://www.proz.com/pro/31675, who wrote all of Lady Macbeth's lines.
Member since Mar '06
