Amends To My Muse

Amends To My Muse

Oh, Muse
Forgive my prolonged evasion
We were companions once
You and I
Invariably sharing
Observations
Elucidations
And, when I freely pondered
You answered, eloquently
This, our repartee
You, and me

And then
I began to avoid our encounters
Keeping only breviloquent discourse
Then, subtle nods in your direction
Until, finally, nothing at all
Our concord only a distant memory

It was not by design, you see
But for the sake of brevity
My attention split into fragments
Of paternity and every responsibility
An exhausting helotry
Impalpable perspiration 
Dampening the wick
That once lit my imagination
And so
I resigned myself
To that
Barren
Paralyzing 
Mindscape

And yet
Have I not seen you?
There, in the periphery?
Patiently waiting for me
To fortuitously notice
To restore our harmony
And welcome you back
With familiar embrace?

Yes, I've heard 
Your voice in the morning birdsong
In the words of my son, reciting stories
And the patter of raindrops on fresh leaves of green

I have seen you
Dancing with my daughter's loose tooth
Unfurling the blossoms, awash in color
And in the soft shine of silver moonlight

I've felt your presence
On the soft, light-speckled footpaths in the forest
In the panorama of hallowed Civil War battlefields
And in the warm breath of my sleeping children

There you have dwelled
In my simple joys
There you have dwelled
In the fissures of my hardships
Bursting out of my mind
And into the din...
The declarations of the sufferers
The bluster of political hysteria
The trumped up election
The Black Lives
Toppled bronze statues
And bleeding schools

In connubial bickering
Preschooler stand-offs
Restless nights
Tight clothes
Gray whiskers
And backaches
Delirium
Doubts
The earnest things
The petty things
You were there
In the distractions
But more so, in between them...

There, you have dwelled
In the quiet places
Between truth and belief
Amid the atoms
And the ticks of second hands
Ready to materialize
From space and time
If only I beckoned

Oh, Muse
I call to you now
Hoping you attend to me
For who will tell my story?
Who will be my confidant?
Celebrate my victories?
Bemoan my travails?
And study the times?
Who will illuminate
Fading memories?
My friend...
You are my voice
My vision
Please, come and
Dwell within
So that we may speak 
Once again

JMC
5/22/18
(c) 2018