In the margins of his print of a Rembrandt etching
Van Gogh scribbled in truffle black ink,
In media noctic vim suam lex exerit.
“In the middle of the night light spreads its power.”
He wrote to his brother Theo
that mediating on the print gave
him the courage to live on broth and coffee
and work all night by gaslight,
the heart to make the darkness tangible,
the spirit to create a cavalcade
of color the world had never seen before.
The old master taught him how
To harness infinity, as if God were starting
The universe all over with a clean palette.
But the painter who moved him most
was the blue-souled, angel-winged Giotto,
who was always full of kindness and enthusiasm
and painted despite being always in pain.
What I would give to have that faith
That living and working in the margins
Will heal even your fiercest wounds.
--Phil Cousineau, “Marginalia”
The Blog of First Congregational UCC of Coloma, Michigan - www.colomaucc.org
