America the Beautiful is broken
into variations, reassembled
at fifteen, while your friends played ball, tumbled
after grounders. Met her, vows were spoken,
children came, a job to feed and shelter.
Insurance, managed risk made up your days
while music filled your nights and underlaid
a counterpoint of art and home. She felt your
dualistic muse; the age-old tale
of starving artist held no taste for you.
Forty years of working every breath
until the night your muse's heart would fail.
You lived for years with your worst fear come true,
for you had starved your artist to his death.
Charles Ives (1874 - 1954), considered the first true American voice in classical music, creator of the tone cluster...and as an insurance agent, creator of the concept of estate planning. Another musician who never believed in the myth of the starving artist, and a personal hero.
Every choice has a price to be paid.