There is a legend, there is a fable,
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that waiting inside the chest of every Artist is a Nature of its own.
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It has also been said that it's a place of great beauty.
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The Artist's soul needs that beauty for food.
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The poets have called it a sanctuary, and say that he who but seldom goes there cannot help but be depressed.
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Could it be?
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Could it be a place of purple mountains in which the sun comes to dance?
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Could the sky dump magic blue, a special cobalt, into a man's cup,
and thereby introduce him to forever?
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And the stallions? Do they who rule the plains lend him their untamed passions?
Herring went there long ago, unable to resist the temptation.
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What did he carry with him?
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Just one thing: The spirit of William Butler Yeats, who said,
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"I carry from my mother's womb a fanatic's heart."