New muse! Your parted lips, my throat steam-smitten,

with breath of spring to paint the flower bed,

breathe life, make color run in words long written,

the ardent scarlet in the rosy red.

Your breath on blazing blossoms, I entreat,

the burning, yearning whisper of my name

like long familiar song, give sweet repeat

to tease this tickling flicker into flame—

a fire kindled, fit to burst,

that even the song a thousand times rehearsed,

I sing and sing again, as if the first.

-Alistair "Hale" Sauterne