The Muse

The Muse
by January Low

It has been 2 months
2 months since my last performance.
I feel empty, useless and unspecial.

Bright lights, suitcases, jetlag I miss dearly
Red bulls, waterproof make-up, sweaty sarees
Deep heat, sore muscles, fever

selfish room-mates, insensitive room-mates, noisy room-mates
excess baggage, Indian train rides, sharing train berths
diarrhoea, ripped-off toe-nails, prima donna tantrums

Has the muse left me? Maybe temporarily.
Or maybe she’s just recuperating from 17 years of tireless tours
Maybe she’s gathering her energy for another round
Or maybe she’s just waiting to settle down first

Whatever it is, I know that I have the angin
I have an extraordinary gift, and I must never forget that it’s there
I must treasure it like a precious object, a magical object

And when the time comes for me to share this extremely rare priviledge,
I will know. Deep inside, I will feel it
Coursing, surging,

Moksha.

In The Blue Mountains by Paulo Coelho

The day after my arrival in Australia, my publisher takes me to the natural park close to Sydney. There, in the midst of the forest that covers an area known as the Blue Mountains, are three rock formations in the form of obelisks.

'They're the Three Sisters,' my publisher says, and then tells me the following legend.

A shaman was out walking with his three sisters when the most famous warrior of time approached then and said:

'I want to marry one of those lovely girls.'

'If one of them marries, the other two will think they're ugly. I'm looking for a tribe where warriors are allowed to have three wives,' replied the shaman, moving off.

For years, the shaman travelled the Australian continent, but never found that tribe.

'At least one of us could have been happy,' said one of the sisters, when they were old and tired of all that walking.

'I was wrong,' said the shaman,' but now it's too late.'

And he transformed the three sisters into blocks of stone, so that anyone who passed by there would understand that the happiness of one does not mean the unhappiness of others.