Prayer to the Muses

Sisters of the spoken word

Ladies of all artistry
Nymphs of Mind who ride ones thoughts
Who give and offer, tease and taunt
Born of storm and memory

I call thee Ladies, to inspire
The graceful, glorious, gifted Nine
I Name thee Muses and call ye forth
To imbue my Craft with creative force
To give shape to what I can’t define

Learned Urania of the firmament
Queen of the stories in the skies
Muse of the movements of the planets
The stars that glint within Night’s net
And all that which in Heaven shines

She who brings immortal fame
Great Polyhymnia of odes of praise
Who inspires us to laud the gods
In psalms of glory and worship songs
Who gives eloquence and lyric grace

Trumpeting Thalia, masked in joy
Who causes the comedic heart to stir
Who glorifies the simple life
Whose presence poisons pain and strife
Whose holy song is pure laughter

The wisest of the sisterhood,
Beautiful-voiced Kalliope
Whose song arouses the nations Soul
Whose words glorify the heroes roll
Recording great and epic deeds

Gentle Erato of lover’s rhymes
Of lust and beauty set to words
Who inspires pleas and vows of those
Who ‘joy, who long, who weep with woe
In words whispered, shouted, and unheard

Lady-Muse of history,
Kleio who knows all that’s passed
She who through we win renown
Eternal fame her offered crown
She who ensures our stories last

Harmonious Euterpe who gives sound to song
Whose voice inspires pure delight
Who lives where math and melody merge
And revels in rhythm twined with words
And in the passions they ignite

She in whose gait is beauty found
Muse of dance, Terpsichore
Who arouses rhythm in soul and limb
And turns movement into holy hymn
And gives voice to voiceless story

Sombre Melpomene of tear-stained mask
Whose sorrowful words can entomb life
Who shows beauty found in suffering
And inspires the painful heart to sing
And brings a balance found through strife

Goddesses whose worship lies in rhyme
And whose worship is in tint and shade
In song and story, book and play
In sculptors form and dancer’s sway
Ladies, I call upon your aid

Inspire me and grant me drive
So that my visions come to shape
And I will thank and give all honours
To Zeus and Mnemosyne’s daughters
Through the act of all I make