The Poet and his Muse

An old storyteller raided town
His words his shield and spear
He asked the children gathering
What story they’d like to hear

They laughed and cheered most happily
For they knew just what to choose
And all cried out in unison
“The Young Poet and his Muse!”

It’s a story they all heard before
An old fable that took flight
It filled their heads throughout the day
And sparked their dreams at night

With upward ears they listened
To the words the old man used
To tell the tale of undying love
Between the poet and his muse

The wise man smiled as he began
The famed story wrapped in time
About the fine young poet’s love
Who inspired all his rhyme

Her image floated through his head
When he settled down to write
For in the dark thoughts of his mind
Her face became his light

He breathed her name most lovingly
She was all his mind thought of
The words hung deep within his soul
Soaring through the skies of love

He would read to her his poetry
Underneath the willow tree
Up in their secret garden
Hanging high above the sea.

She smiled and thanked him for his words
Said, “You know just how I feel
But the poems of love you write of me
Are they fake or are they real?”

He picked for her a red tulip
Said “You ask me what is true?
Of all the people in this world
My heart beats just for you.”

She took the flower from his hand
As the tears fell from her eye
And wrapped her arms around his neck
While her heart stretched to the sky

Alone that night she traveled back
With a wide smile on her face
To pick a surprise for her man
At their secret meeting place

But in the darkness she got lost
And wandered deep in strife
Then slipped and fell down to the sea
Where the cold waters snatched her life

All alone the poet woke
In the early hours of dawn
He searched his lands high and low
But alas his muse was gone

So he made his way to the spot
Underneath the willow tree
Up in their secret garden
Hanging high above the sea

Her footprints lay in the dirt
And he tracked them to the cliff
Where by the edge on the ground
Lay a tender red tulip

Standing dazed he realized
The harsh mystery of the sea
That in its cold vicious grasp
Lay his true love’s dead body

His mind could not wrap around
Her body drowned in tomb
Cut down like a flower
That had just begun to bloom

For days on end the poet mourned
As his life’s sight became blurred
He felt that he could bring her back
To the world within his words

But soaked in dreams of burning grief
He had lost his creative spark
Without his muse the fire left
Dousing his mind’s light into dark

He could not live all alone
In a loop of wasted days
Sinking down to the valley
On a rolling smog of haze

His heart searched for an answer
To his soul’s extinguished light
While nightmares rang on in his head
Screaming “End it all tonight!”

Through the twisted logic
Running blind inside his mind
He thought he’d see his love again
If he left this world behind

So he drank a little poison
His mind firmly locked on death
While images of beauty played
As he breathed his final breath

When he woke he felt a tug
And believing he was dead
The poet turned to see his muse
But saw an old man instead

“Who are you?” the poet asked
His mind fogging up inside
“Worry not,” the old man said
“I reached you before you died.

It all may seem confusing
But I’ll tell you to your face
That you’re neither dead nor alive
But stuck in a middle place.”

The poet’s eyes were puzzled
He said, “What did you just do?
Now I can’t be with my love
And it’s all because of you.”

“Led by your heart you act in vain,”
The old man began to say
“The only way to see your muse
Is to live out all your days

I know it’s tough to lose a love
But there is no easy out
You got too wrapped up in your grief
And forgot what life’s about

The time has come to seek the path
To fight your thoughts of greed
And refocus all your actions
On helping those in need

Now go and write a happy end
To the rest of your story
Only then will your life lead
To the one you long to see.”

The poet woke alive and well
With new lyrics to his song
To begin a brand new chapter
In a life where he belonged

He kept in mind his lost love
While he tried his best to cope
Through good deeds he changed his life
Filling others with new hope

Now it happened some years later
When death came to his door
One last time he closed his eyes
And saw the one he lived for

He swelled up with emotion
For in her his love took flight
Then the poet smiled and thought
“The kind old man was right!”

She stood an image of beauty
Underneath the willow tree
Up in their secret garden
Hanging high above the sea.

Her dark eyes sparkled brightly
Her face a work of art
Her laughter flowed through his veins
While her smile unlocked his heart

Then appearing right beside him
As if placed there as a gift
Stood the symbol of their love
A single red tulip

With joy he gave it to her
As the tears fell from her eye
She wrapped her arms round his neck
Her heart stretched to the sky

Eternity passed between them
As they held each other tight
Locked in a world beyond shadows
In a perfect endless light

Now most would think this’d mark the end
But please don’t be confused
For this is when the true story starts
Between the Poet and his Muse