VINCENT VAN GOGH

Starry Night

He moved his arm

Vigorously piling on

Thick sweeps of yellow paint

To show the movement

And brilliance

Of the glowing stars

And crescent moon

The colour of nature

He stopped exhausted

His heart pounding

His eyes aching

With the strain

Of painting by star light.

He gazed up at

The clear night sky

And saw the majesty

And glory

Of the expanse of the universe

Not as pinpricks of light

Far away above him

But swirling around him

He felt himself

A speck of star dust

Amongst these golden globes

Of light

He perceived these

Heavenly bodies

As ancient peoples had

Who saw them as gods

Who lit there way

In the night

When the sun had disappeared

No longer obscuring

Other suns and planets

In the sky

Perhaps never to appear again.

Such joy and rapture

How could he share

This wonder with

People around him.

We are all light beings

We are all made of

Star dust

He told them.

They shook their heads

Poor man

Sitting in the field

Throughout the night

He must be hallucinating.

He saw the people

Trudging through life

In the same routine

Getting up

Eating the same

Simple food

Working in the fields

Going home to bed

Never lifting their eyes

To gaze at the pure

Manifestation of a

Higher power

In the vastness of space.

Look up, look up

He would scream

Can’t you see

How wonderful the heavens are

Look, he would say,

To a field labourer

Look at the sky

It’s a clear night

The man would say

It might rain tomorrow.

Look at those

Great globes of light

Moving around the universe

In a waltz thousands of years old.

Why couldn’t people

See beauty

The way he could?

In time

He could bear it

No longer

The intensity

With which he saw the world

Was too much for

A man to bear

He found a final

Solution to lasting

Peace for himself.

I awoke from a slumber

Whilst travelling

through the desert

Now it was night

I caught my breath

And saw enormous stars

Glowing like suns

They felt nearer than

Any other stars

I had seen before

Tears came to my eyes

We are indeed star travellers

Vincent, I thought.