Ars Poetica: Muse

Calliope, Erato, Polyhymnia.
Inquisitrix triplets.
How cruel you can be.
This servile pen,
Bound and straining,
Would leap to please you,
If only you would allow it.
I would gush fountains for you
At your lightest caress.

Such privileges you impart:
My tongue could rule the world,
Could bend patriots and priests to their knees,
But your merest neglect
Leaves me flaccid, impotent,
And cowed.