In Moreau's painting "Hesiod and the Muse"
There is a preponderance of blue
That softens the sky and subdues everything
Into a twilight background

Except the poet who stands naked with his lyre
Embraced by a winged Muse
A long sword hanging from her girdle
She seems to hover somehow above him

Hesiod wears a garland of laurel like a nimbus
His face androgynous his features feminine and fair
More light in frame and delicate in form
Than the Muse that supports him

Not a farmer not a sailor not a craftsman
But one who sits on soft pillows
And sips sweet nectar at the table of the gods
Hesiod is painted a poet

Suspended in the blueness of sky
There is a temple a single bright star
And winged creatures fly far above
The ground where blossoms touch bare feet

Doug Tanoury