GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858-1924) Italian operatic composer whose works include La Boheme, Tosca and Madame Butterfly. Very scarce A.Ms. (unsigned), 1p. 4to., [n.p., n.d.], an original, somewhat cryptic 17-line holograph poem in Italian entitled "The Muse ", reading, in full: "...The Muse/is wife of the Snout/is stone of habit/also knows the spindle/practices in Abstruse/if Caruso sings/he does not seem an interloper/in a well-hidden spot/A right hand which spindle/Sebella the obtuse/with diffuse breath/does not allow deluded/if it is also in insult/The husband to the muse/that is not an excuse/I didn't want to say at first/but it was through the rhyme ". Not included in Puccini e sue rime by Giorgio Magri (Milan 1974), which records 38 holograph poems by Puccini. Boldly penned on a light green sheet of his imprinted Via Verdi letterhead, a central fold, otherwise very good condition, and certainly of the rarest format. $2,000-3,000