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Sonnet 02/12/00                        CDXCIX

My muse returns, and brings a light to day
Grown dreary with her absence. Shall I weep,
For joy her smile now brings? Yet I must stay,
At distance, for a while. I dare not keep
As close as I might wish, for fear that heat
Of raw emotion will melt desires bond.
I want to reach out, but I dare not treat
My muse as mortal maid: I have not wand
To capture heart, or steal, from her, fires
That send me verse. I seek to hold the flame
That lights my dreams, and all my verse inspires:
Yet I would hear her voice call out my name.
You have woken what I had thought had died:
Not only desire, but the dream inside.