Dues For The Muse (A Ghazal)

DUES FOR THE MUSE

Unseen, you witness with smoking eyes your home, Parnassus, sanctuary, now home to ski ……….lifts, the tailings from a mine. Calliope!
You let me view it as through your eyes and my heart surges, a frenzied urge, to protect you, ……….your ease my soul’s sole design, Calliope.

I’ll always challenge their compliments. I’m not the writer, just hold the pen. It would be ……….foolish, and worse than that, it is a sacrilege.
For who fathoms far beyond what I glimpse then deftly spins the wheel of my glazed eye till ……….feelings, snatched thoughts and words combine? … Calliope!

Being the eldest is not easy, we both remember. You tough it out. You used heroic words to ……….mask your vulnerability.
Drew tight the shutters and hid your fear, forgot frailty becomes a strength when shared, so ……….let me see yours, for you’ve seen mine, Calliope.

Yes, I’ll admit I enjoy a pun or two. To me though a play on words can be far more than an idle ……….joke; I use them purposely.
I jest, in hopes to amuse a muse, cross fingers hoping the fool I play contrives to conjure that ……….wistful smile of thine, Calliope.

Forget the epic. Look where that leads. Death and destruction. You’ve been betrayed. Ares? ……….Achilles? A brute. A heel. You’ve had your share of pain.
I know a new shore. Let us set sail, if you will allow. Make love, not war. Yes, we’re no angels ……….and yet our lives entwine, Calliope.

Your past is chequered, no less than mine. Through poison ivy and bittersweet you climbed, ……….then outgrew, your family tree, untarnished, defiant.
You’ve run the gamut: daughter, sister, lover, mother, wife. If you’re game, milf could be ……….another. Fear not, I won’t decline, Calliope.

Life’s not been easy. You spoke your truth through art, and artful words, then saw men grab ……….all the glory. Yet you retain your generosity.
I’ve answered sirens. They’ve played me false. Now, in your harbour I drop anchor, realising ……….it’s in mine you sink your line, Calliope.

Devoid, an exile among the cloying throng possessed by possessions they pursue, unmoved by ……….agitation, I shall await you here.
A glade at twilight. This wood, this world, a living temple and in each tree, each leaf, each ……….flower, each blade of grass a shrine, Calliope.

A bird embroiders the evening with a cascading of notes that slice through flesh yet leave the ……….heart beating time until it’s time to leave.
A sign, this song bird. Those same dreamy dark eyes that refuse brief encounter, promise ……….quintessence, beyond beyond. Divine Calliope.

I am your captive, my queen of hearts. You break my heart and then sew it up, all in a heart ……….beat. There are no words for this, not even yours.
Untried recipe; we’re working blind. Not best components; we’re chalk and cheese. Red wine ……….and brown bread, that’s all, A loaf, some wine, Calliope.

Brother and sister in one body, sapling forever in bud. At peace at last. Untroubled, we walk ……….the line. A jewelled carriageway.
The night is pitch black. I am writing in the light shed by your golden crown. Only your rapture ……….can cause this ray to shine, Calliope.

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The dear Musey Lady has been pestering me to repost this. She has been feeling neglected recently. All I can say is that I have been doing too much reading of other e-logs rather than working on completing poems of my (“our” she says) own. And so …