The Muse: Incentive Poem by Robert Eckstein

A poet full of beans and gin
Said, 'When will my dear Muse stop in?
'I've gone three days without a rhyme,
'My publisher says, 'Not one dime
'Until I have some verse from you!
'Sit in your garret, sweat and stew.
'Some misery is what you need
'To get your brain back up to speed.
'If springtime flowers are not enough,
'I'll see to it that things are tough!
'When the wolf is howling at your door
'The stanzas from your pen will pour.
'Don't whine about your feet are cold,
'That starving poet gig is old.
'Don't expect a nymph with perfumed hair
'Will tiptoe up the creaking stair.
'Your Muse must whack you on the head
'And you must go where you are led.
'I'm not here baby-sit a bard.
'Now write that stuff by ream and yard! '