. Feint is the Muse, that looks upon me, challenging my existence with deep baleful interest. Its struggles hard to contain its indifference at the mere mortality that I conduct. And conduct I do. As melody takes centre stage in a flight of fancy, constrained by rhythm temperate, steady, and insistent. The cadenced beat of skins keeping time to a fanfare of sound. But my voice is silent, conspicuous by its absence, in mute violation of speechless freedom. The words won't come, no song message birthed for altruism nor benefit of composition. The flight of fancy stalls and gently rocks in a cradle of anticipation. Rhythm drops to a meagre pelvic twitch, insistence foregone and forgotten in a cynical parody of the vocal deficiency. Velvet drapes lick the wooden floor stage, and the performance has just begun.