StylusLit

March 2022

Back to Issue 11

Van Gogh, Saint Rémy, September 1889

By Edward Caruso

 

after Self-Portrait,1889

 

One looks to the eyes,

the jaw’s shape.

 

When a face is overlaid with questions

about solitude or unrest,

poverty or a lack of heart,

to search out moments that embellish life

 

a home adorned with tapestries

in a halo of candles

 

he who is bathed in this atmosphere

could be called priestly.

 

In twilight he escapes the sun,

the moon a stone that climbs out of woods

in leaden skies.

 

Such portraits – a painter refusing this song.

There’s no turning back, each still life

the illusion of permanence.

 

 

Image: http://art-vangogh.com/saint-remy_143.html