"To be an artist" [a quasi-contrarian ditty]

To be an artist one must first retire
from water (if one seeks the art of fire)
from earth (if one desires the art of air)
from self itself (if art equates with pyre)

to be an artist   mint a saying terse
the phrase to be   might twinkle in your verse



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Playfully responsive to this Mocha Arthouse dictum:
There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it.