Hello my shimmering Muse
you made me and you made mine
I've never really seen you
But I've got you somewhere
on compact disc and cassette
and in well-thumbed tomes
you're not what people
think you are, not at all
you're not a person
or anything like that
you're a moment in a million
electrifying the hairs on
the back of my young neck

You're benevolent...but not really
you'll lift a man to his tip-toes
and then just throw him down again
you gave me the power to see
more than just what I look at
and you gave me the power
to write it on paper afterwards
and if I can capture perfection
on those little sheets of paper
I get to go and live forever
in the hearts and minds
of readers yet to be

I'm a fisherman for perfection
I'm willing to wait for it
sitting in isolation for that
brief flurry of action
with my pen steady in my hand
I know there are those who
use instruments of music and art
to do much the same thing
I've heard it on tape
I heard a man from many years ago
capture sadness in a grand piano
for five minutes thirty seconds
you taught him how to do it
and I thank you and ask
for your guidance as well