What must be done by Jason Ma
CBC Books | | Posted: May 30, 2019 11:21 AM | Last Updated: May 30, 2019
2019 finalist: Grade 7 to 9 category
Jason Ma is a finalist of the 2019 Shakespeare Selfie Student Writing Challenge. This annual writing competition challenges students to write a soliloquy or monologue in the voice of a Shakespearean character based on a prominent news, pop culture or current affairs event from the last year (April 2018 to April 2019).
Ma, who attends Appleby College in Oakville, Ont., wrote about the execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song Thaek from the perspective of The Tempest's Alonso.
To kill or not to kill: every leader's dilemma
Is it better to let a person live and lose?
Or to kill and win the prize only one can have?
Is a brother's love worth sacrificing all?
A family's work is worth more than one fall.
A family's troubles spread to the country
They will rip it apart and start chaos.
To kill is necessary, no regrets
Don't want to, but it is must be done quickly
Stability: there is the goal of all.
If a family of importance breaks,
This can only show the country's weakness and flaws
Makes a superb time to invade
Proving again what must be quickly done
Future for whom? Better future for all
To save the monument of time, duty calls
Regime change to some is a fascination
Preventing chaos is worth an assassination
Patient cunning carefully laid safety makes
The actions one takes, quiet as a snake
Stability made may not be so fair
To save the rest is a leader's sole care
While hard it can be, killing is the key
Of paradise lost, of paradise gained
A debate for angels, man's will is pained
Of Kim Jong Un, I, Alonso approve
Is it better to let a person live and lose?
Or to kill and win the prize only one can have?
Is a brother's love worth sacrificing all?
A family's work is worth more than one fall.
A family's troubles spread to the country
They will rip it apart and start chaos.
To kill is necessary, no regrets
Don't want to, but it is must be done quickly
Stability: there is the goal of all.
If a family of importance breaks,
This can only show the country's weakness and flaws
Makes a superb time to invade
Proving again what must be quickly done
Future for whom? Better future for all
To save the monument of time, duty calls
Regime change to some is a fascination
Preventing chaos is worth an assassination
Patient cunning carefully laid safety makes
The actions one takes, quiet as a snake
Stability made may not be so fair
To save the rest is a leader's sole care
While hard it can be, killing is the key
Of paradise lost, of paradise gained
A debate for angels, man's will is pained
Of Kim Jong Un, I, Alonso approve