I promise to myself "It's just a poem." With every line my pen ascends the stage. My madness- buried, lurking under loam- Begins to rip and claw out of the page. And in this passion- wild and unfettered- A curse is given me while I'm unlettered. Oh, look! Brave Homer gallops across the stage! And Ovid, measured, march' across his foes, And Shakespeare's little songs hold up an age And Edgar Allan Poe holds up its woes And my weak hand- it shrivels up in fright And yet the muse demands of me: "You, write!" Lord Tennyson's a friend's friend after death And Kipling's strength from India's jungle strides. There's Coleridge- talking till he's out of breath While Elliot sneaks cats in on the sides Meanwhile my pen dries up in utter shame, And yet my muse commands of me: "Again!" The curse consumes my caution _ _ _ My heroes names are known, their works are not.