Sleeping with the Muse,
my nights have grown short
Sleeping with the Muse,
all senses comport
Sleeping with the Muse,
words dance with delight
Sleeping with the Muse,
confronting my fright
Sleeping with the Muse,
her will tests again
Sleeping with the Muse,
not lover or friend
Sleeping with the Muse,
my dreams sacrificed
Sleeping with the Muse,
all rest put on ice
Sleeping with the Muse,
the whispers come clean
Sleeping with the Muse,
excuses demeaned
Sleeping with the Muse,
my spool is respun
Sleeping with the Muse,
divorced from the sun
Sleeping with the Muse,
in darkness I learn
Sleeping with the Muse,
my spirit confirmed
Sleeping with the Muse
till dawn’s freeing light
Sleeping with the Muse
—new verse to take flight
(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)