We writers are not alone: So many Poets/Authors have paved for the for Artists to Survive:
Poem: By Paul Laurence Dunbar ‘My all time favorite- Enjoy!!!
WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
Poem: By Paul Laurence Dunbar
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/dunbar/pldunbar4.html#WE WEAR THE MASK
A Poet's Vision 
Thank you so much for reprinting this today!
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my pleasure ..thank you for reading…
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Reblogged this on Mother Bethel Poetry Ministry.
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One of my favorites by Paul Laurence Dunbar!! Years ago I went to his home in Dayton, Ohio. Amazing!
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wow- I went to school at Wilberforce , I def. need to come back and see the house – thanks for sharing that!!
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