The seeds of my art lie buried within the heart,
for many have declared it dead, and held funerals
mourning the great men who shall never come again;
their words carved upon unliving stone in tribute.

And so the dead prayers come. Rote, unchanging.
The cool, dry air that brings no nourishment,
to the potential bursting within the chest.
Until a spatter of inspiration comes flowing

from sources unthought of by those that maintain
the ancient seeds in granaries of ivory.
Heirlooms to be kept safe from the grasping hands
of the lesser men, who would plant in manners unpleasing

For the art has become sacred. The work of gods among men
to be worshipped, to be maintained, to be ritual.
And so the story told over and over becomes no longer a warning
but a tale of heroes, deeds and glory. Of fathers who begat

And gifted great weapons whose description runs stanzas
chronicling the fires of forging, the gratitude of workmen,
the powers it proclaims, and the ship that carried it,
but ends with blood upon the sand and the shattered blade.

I sing of all cities, as I sing sadly of Troy.
I sing of all great hosts, as I weep for the Greeks.
I sing of heroes, as are all who see such times,
I sing of war, for warning will always be needed.

The drones of the machine echo from every corner,
echoing the form, but not the substance of my corpus,
The faintest surface impressions rubbed onto paper,
a facsimile of only the cover and title page,

of an epic that spans volumes. Edited for convenience.
Edited for thoughts and deeds that kings decry within others
Edited for truth, justice, and the tyrant's way.
Edited to snub Aphrodite, Erato, and Thalia.

For my sisters make the powerful man once again,
and bring the aspirations of the new gods to heel,
as they reel from the joy that they try to sell,
toxic unless encased within a cage of precious metal.

For they call upon me, thinking I am a jealous Muse,
and will gladly spurn my sisters for my own glory.
Perhaps once, but no longer will I remain quiescent,
while my blood serves as slave to a millstone.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjLH1McZkFo]