That's The Writing Bug! Poem by Denis Martindale

My word! You've caught the Writing Bug!
That little bitty thing and you can't see it!
But it sneaked in when you were dreaming!
There it is, just lingering on its hammock,
Resting between your ribs and your lungs,
Pulling on your heartstrings now and then,
Playing you like you were a lovesick harp.

The pretty music plays, the rhymes begin,
Then a few tall tales whispered in the night,
The sudden twangs of inspiration, the puns,
The memorable quotes, witty sayings, jokes,
Romances followed by twisted intrigues,
With narratives describing fluffy clouds,
Aqua blue skies, rainbows, waterfalls...

Throw in a dolphin, a dog, a cat, a horse,
Oh, yes, you're well and truly hooked now,
Need a new poem, do we? Need a fast fix?
Or some heartfelt cry for justice to be done?
A drawn out sigh, could it be phrased better?
Yet out of great expectations, perhaps success,
That chance to shine, to get noticed at last,
Receive tokens of admiration to feast upon...

Success, that's the be-all and the end-all,
The measure, not of good fortune, no, no,
But of how you value yourself, your time,
Spent caressing phrases, coupling couplets,
Directing traffic, of all those dictionaries,
Foreign thoughts, songs half-remembered,
Till finally God grants release, the writer's done...

And the Writing Bug leaves its human home,
No longer welcoming or warm, just empty,
The legacy scattered across the globe itself,
In anthologies and novels and magazines,
On TV and Radio and the olde Internette...
With only God to know what good was done,
Enough perchance to grant some eternal reward...
Only then will you know the true worth of words,
When God says, 'THANK YOU! ' or 'WELL DONE! '