On Seeing Van Gogh's Starry Night

The heavens sing: this is their blazing joy
Break forth! Break forth! In wonder uncontained
Sing with the beauty only artists see
Even our soiled world speaks of the unstained.

Here our fragility, our broken toil
Scarce dares to raise its eyes, for once it knew
Beauty and glory will not be denied
Splendor, in white-hot wonder, slicing through

All the dark hiding places of the soul.
This will not let self-pity weave its web
Of darkness, to entrap us in ourselves,
Let go the old defences, let them ebb.

Only the brave man, with his soul undone
Paints with a frenzy of the joy that’s seen
But not yet tasted. This can drive men mad:
The desperate hunger for what could have been.

Yes, there is resolution, but not here,
And not too soon, we first must drink our need,
And own there is a light no night can dim
And it is placed beyond our grasping greed.

Yes! Let the stars be symphonies of light,
Let midnight glow and burn with radiance,
Heaven’s hilarity must overflow
And called the burned and broken ones to dance.