My Muse Tonight. . .

Hope –
It’s my muse tonight.
It drinks wine with me.
Gurgling, gushing
Down my gullet –
A bitter taste –
Churning my innards
Till I vomit
Blood and disease.

But no, I won’t miss her.
Hope is here

Like a muezzin’s call
From its soaring minarets
Beckoning me
To summon faith,
To look straight
Into the night’s face,
Shut my door
On her

And keep
In this dank musky room
My flowers in full bloom.

© Dan Husain
October 10, 2005

PS: I watched ‘Cinderella Man’ today with few students of mine. After the movie, as I drove back, I kept hearing the song ‘The Great Beyond’ by REM. I guess this is my complex response to the events of today’s evening. The phrase ‘flowers in full bloom’ is taken from REM’s song. I hope I am not nailed for plagiarism and this sleight of words get passed as creative freedom. :-)