Ode To Vincent

In Honor Of Vincent Van Gogh

 

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Brilliance often twinkles like the Starry Night you captured.

Fading in and out on the winds of swirling clouds

A mind that is timeless even though troubled while here…

Now artists grab paints and brushes hoping the canvas will love them,

 like it still loves you.

All those years of hoping to find your True Heart

and now upon canvas your Love lives captured, eternally.

I pray you found your way

through the Cypress’s gate --the bridge from here to Heaven’s door

where the golden orange Sun’s arms stretch out to welcome you.

May you walk through the welcoming Sunflowers

as you experience your resurrection like Lazarus…

No more Hallucinations playing noises in ears that make you tear them to shreds.

Your beauty is kept alive in each stroke that knew your name

and Gauguin wished to paint like you.

  

 You were a daunting soul to closed minds that ignored your light shining brightly so…

As you spoke fluently through oils and watercolors…

 Preaching through each brush stroke articulately…

 While searching through oranges, yellows, and blues for peace.

Your sanity often twirling about as you fought epilepsy in an unrelenting world.

They didn’t understand the difference of one but I see the truth in Irises.

You became the Mower so you could experience the greatest of all Harvests.

A split decision made with a farmer’s tool between Wheat Fields with Crows.

Now finally, you can know Midday’s Rest…

Theo’s heart broke and he rushed to walk with you again.

Your paintings now line museums…

You surpassed the “beginning of the beginning of doing something serious.”

 

 

 

 

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Author's Note

This is a feeble attempt to pay homage to the great Vincent Van Gogh. I would like to share a brief bit of his story. Vincent was from Holland and he was a devout Christian. He wanted to be a preacher but wasn�t very articulate. He tried to be an art dealer like his Beloved brother and friend Theo but that didn�t work. He tried to be a teacher as well. Vincent loved painting and drawing. He was a hopeless romantic and an outsider every where he went. He most likely suffered from epilepsy and the type he had made him hallucinate. He would see things and hear noises. He fell in love with a woman that was a former prostitute that had a daughter. He had a friend named Gauguin (a fellow artist) that came to live with him for a while. Gauguin in a drunken rage belittled and berated Van Gogh to the point he started have a fit. His epilepsy kicked in and he was experience a break down so he left the bar they were in and ran home. Gauguin followed and told Van Gogh how he had slept with his love and how he couldn�t paint so Van Gogh pulled out a razor. Gauguin left never to return. Van Gogh was experiencing audible hallucinations and due to the constant ringing in his ears he cut a piece of his ear to stop the noise. He later paid a man to deliver that piece of his ear to the lady that he loved and Gauguin had slept with. Van Gogh checked himself into a mental institution and started to recover form his break down. He never became famous for his paintings while living. He suffered financially and he was an outcast most of his life. He eventually ended his life while painting the piece �Wheat Fields with Crows�. He died two days later and six months after that his brother Theo passed of a broken heart.

I wrote this because his story touches me because so many people suffer from mental illness on different levels and they are basically faced with the same scrutiny he must have felt. He further adds to the passion I have to get in the field of Psychology and perhaps make a difference in the life of others with similar issues.

Now his paintings sales for more than any other artist�s paintings have. Listen to the song if you can�

Reviews

[Mr. Deft Diction]

This is a heart-felt piece to a true genius of any time period. Starry Night is one of my all-time favorite pieces of art, and ironically, after reading your synopsis of the life of Van Gogh, can't help but think to myself about the beauty of the mind. The world around him wasn't where he was supposed to be at all.

Great tribute to a classic.

[Steffi]

Wonderful.
The word choice and flow of this piece were inspired.
Van Gogh was a genius and i think you painted a good picture of him through you words like he did with a brush and paint.

[Rain]

I have his painting, " Starry Starry Night, in my sunroom, as do millions, although they are not aware of his full story. I think Don McMclean paid him the most beautiful tribute in his song. Your piece was beautiful. I wish the music would have played in the back ground. I have a fullscreen version with all his paintings and Don singing in the back ground. I think your addition of his story just enhanced the beautiful job you did. Rain..

[Mountain Dawn]

Your words honor him and his work. Beautifully done.

[Amanda]

a beautiful written piece and tribute to an artist that was a brilliant, but troubled soul.

i love the song, Vincent and have it on one of my playlists.

Amanda @};--

[Imperfection]

Vincent is one of my favorite songs.

This is one of those pieces that are hard to review because I can't find the right words. I'll just say that this is an excellent poem.

[forfila]

Awe wow, such a touching tribute, full of emotion and admiration. I love it, just going over some of the pics I am not to fimiliar with, and Wow! they truly are amazing.
You have an amazing pen Choosing Life, I love to read your work.. Keep it up! =)

[R J Askew]

This is a lovely job especially when read with the note which sets the piece in its historic context. It is a great, though sad story and your poem adds a modern response to it and shows how the story is still alive and moving. My favourite line is, 'You were a daunting soul to closed minds'. An enjoyable read.