Persistent Muse

You do not ask permission

As you slip in through the locks

I bolt the door and pull the shades

For all the good it does

Upon my shoulder you alight

And vow to keep me up tonight

I play my part to perfect fault

A wrinkled brow, a tight-lipped frown

You laugh and turn a somersault

Inside my mind scattered and blown

Taking full charge for you know well

Each curve inside this ivory cell

I fain would beg you to depart

Then miss you madly when you’re gone

You volley twixt my mind and heart

And seem to know when I’m alone

Are you a blessing or a curse

Tormenting me with rhyme and verse?

I cradle you between my lips

Then spit you out in wry disdain

You tease my restless fingertips

And taunt me from the wayward pen

Muse persists and Muse endures…

…take me, take me, I am yours

Janet Martin