Inspiration

What strange mistress is this who comes in the night?

unbidden and unwanted - oh god, please let me sleep!

but she nags and whines; insistent that I rise

to give her time and watch her dance.

I strain to hear her song, fingers poised to quickly write

Watching her spin and turn, to capture the bare moment,

But she falls silent, and her eyes refuse to look in mine

and she drifts back into the night; was she really here?

Will sleep return? Will I be able to lie down before

the hours turn to dawn? What have I got to show for

the appearance of my ghostly apparition: an empty page,

an unsettled soul and my lonely heart?

I stumble through the day and wonder why she won’t come

when the sun is up and I am ready to work

Why does she not appear when I need to fill the line

and satisfy the urgent desire to dance on my own?

Another night has come, and the restless sprite returns

Enticing and seducing, tempting me to rise again

Will this be the night when the urgent need to sing

is complete? Will my heart and the soul be filled at last?