in an alternate poetiverse

the other day I was asked a strange question: What would I have named my muses if I had the hindsight of time. I thought on this for a bit, and have some answers, i you please...

The Swallow would be Hera, the goddess of marriage and birth who had to put up with her husband, Zeus' infidelities. Sorry.

Psyche would remain Psyche, the goddess of the soul. I owe her mine.

The Panther. Problematic you think, but not so much, for her name would be Alexandrite, for the gemstone that changes colours in different lights.

Brigit is not as difficult as you might suppose, she would shed her secondary veil as The Crimson Panther and become simply Crimson. For my own purposes, and to my own satisfaction.

The Leopard would be Sorbet, as time wears on I am all the more convinced she was just a cleansing of my emotional palate, a penance for past sins.

The Mad Gypsy would be just The Gypsy as I have found no madness in her.

The Wisp would be The Curious Silence for the vanishment she has chosen in my sphere.

and of course, what of The Goldenheart? Nothing changes, she remains inviolate and abstract, precious and distant. A memory of what might have been with any woman of beauty, talent and couer rage. Enough to transform a stone, flavoured ice or even a blood-stained tear into someone to love in more than words, more than legends.