Oh sweet Calliope, why do you withdraw?
Demurely you beckon from a warmer shore:
While I stand in the frozen forest and wait for the thaw,
Helplessly I watch the fog obscure the one I adore;
The music of your lyre swims in my head,
I’m entranced and inspired but the story won’t come,
If I jump in and swim to you I will sink like lead:
Without you Calliope, I am naught but flotsam;
Face turned from me, I see you dancing hand-in-hand,
If I reach out, will you reach back for me?
Farther down I sink, please pull me from this wasteland:
Tell me the words I need to know, oh sweet Calliope!
The music’s gone quiet and I can see you no more,
But I know one day I will meet you on that distant shore.
The Ohioan 