Olympus and Mount Helicon Inside Us Always

Olympus and Mount Helicon Inside Us Always

Our singing starts when mind and heart awake

A pen or tongue.  The singing might be notes

Or words, composer or the poet.  Blake

Or Brahms begins inside us.  Singing floats

Out from our fingers or our mouths.  The lips

Then chant of anything the soul has seen

As deep as diamonds, vulnerable as hips,

Or red-haired, laughing, green-eyed mavaurneen,

Hurt-shouldered hunk at Highland Games.  The song

Will come, no matter what.  We humans must

Make music.  Melody or rhythms throng

Through chests.  These stanzas soar from wanderlust.

  We do not have to search.  They fill ribs’ naves

    As utter as those Altamira caves.

~ Phillip Whidden