True Loss

The first day man sold art
freedom flew, and beauty’s eyes grew
nervous like a lost child’s.

Profit-gnashing consumed art of each type;
the great anti-muse criticism
deflated and suppressed
human creativity.

Riveted by institutional protocol,
driven by feeble sickly judges,
creators heard the flute of dissuasion
while the muses wept,
vowing never to quit,
warring with slings of hope
and the golden seed of wonder
planted deep within each newborn.