Inspiration is a fickle muse A touchy maid A picky flirt Tempting the artist and author Flicking a tendril of light In your direction so it Barely brushes the mind Enough to see that it's genius But not enough to see what it is So many lose this tickle of an idea But a few are prepared Armed with papers and pens Walls and paints Stone and chisel They scribble and splash and carve it As best they can and then refine Shape and sculpt to better suit Their idea of perfection So that the same tendril may touch thirty But only ten capture it And none in the same manner