An Artist's Voice

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We are artists . . . we are very sensitive.

They say when an artist loves,
you will feel safe and at home.
An artist will dedicate to you every single song,
they will paint your world vibrant;
an artist will capture your heart,
they will write about how beautiful your soul is.

But somewhere far away,
the artist thought—
maybe not.

What if the artist is broken,
what if the artist is afraid to love?
What if the artist always felt they were not enough?
What if the artist is a frustrated artist?
Are they still worthy of love?

There are times she wishes she was not an artist at all,
at times she does not want to dedicate her whole life through art,
because she feels like being an artist
is not being a human.

When an artist is deeply hurt,
an artist could always cry—
they could weep all day . . .
every day . . .
all night . . .
and forever.
It takes days for an artist to forgive,
but it takes eternity for an artist to forget;
the artist bleeds through its art.
They say an artist's cry is precious,
it resembles the tears of the rain,
the depth of the wide ocean,
the flow of the tides and waves.
But the artist does not feel like it,
in the realm of this world,
the artist does not feel she belongs at all;
the people around the artist do not make her feel loved,
valued
and treasured.
The artist felt like it was just easy for others to let go of their hold on her,
that she never truly matters.

There are times the artist desires,
she was not an artist at all,
because the artist suffers as an artist,
not as a human.

There are times the artist thinks and wonders,
does my art know how to live without me?
Because I do not know how to live without my art.
And it is the only thing that makes me feel I am loved,
it is the only reason why I am alive.

My art loves me
because I made them,
and I love them
because they made me.


“‘The arts are more dangerous [than other occupations] because they require sensitivity to a large extent,’ he told a symposium on depression and creativity. ‘If you go too far you can pay a price—you can be too sensitive to live in this world.’”

— Terence Ketter, professor of psychiatry and behavioural science at Stanford University, from the article ‘Why creative people are more prone to depression (2020)’ by Deborah Stone

“The sensitive suffer more; but they love more, and dream more.” — Augusto Cury

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