Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh.  Arles, 28 September 1888

“My Dear Theo....It does me good to do difficult things. It does not prevent me from having a terrible need of, shall I say the word - of religion - then I go outside in the night to paint the stars and I dream ever of a picture like this.” 

This poem is the second in a series of lenten reflections.  I will leave it to y’all to make any necessary connections.  Obliged

Dying For Beginners (a guide from the stars)

Eta Carinae: No. 4U 1037–60 (A 1044–59)

From the catalogue of dying stars

I chose Eta Carinae

To pray for

Experts are predicting her death

Within the next 3 million years

But her core is already collapsing

Ending this cycle of her life’s journey

She is beautiful

I have seen the pictures

It was Rublev the Russian astronomer

(Not Rublev the painter of God’s shadows)

That first described her beauty

Mapped the contours of her body

But also foretold her dissolution

And later reduced her to a numerical coordinate

It is harder to pray for a number

The Chinese once called her “Heaven’s altar”

Noting In the Book of Jin

That she was second in glory only to Sirius

But she was first named

‘The Vermilion bird of the North’

Her changing colors were believed to

Predict the future of our lives 

Bandits from the north ringed the city of Jiankang

They demanded gold and young women

Or they would destroy the whole town

As the gate began to fall

And all in the city faced destruction

The brave young woman called Ming-huá:

Chose to sacrifice her life for her people

She Leapt from the high tower over the gate

Stretching wide her arms as she fell

Miraculously they were transformed
Into vermilion wings of fire

All witnessed the blazing flames and fiery embers

Tracing the arc-light of her flight through the night sky

Burning enemies to cinders and ash 

Then she soared up into the near-eternal heavens

Nesting in the Northern sky

Where she still watches over her people, for now

There she has birthed her own offspring

A luminous blue variable

Together they dance as they die

Flinging into the cosmos all their matter and light

Giving their masses over to disintegration 

A display never seen before by human eyes

Stars spiraling in a magellanic cloud of witnesses

As Sirius weeps for the loss

I am told by the doctors that

When she dies there will be 

One magnificent burst of light that

Will outshine the entire galaxy

In that momentary flash

All her energy will dissipate

Transforming again into elementals

What makes stars what they are 

Heartbreakingly beautiful

It takes 80,000 years

For light to reach us from Eta Carinae

But prayers travel faster than light

We have time to seek divine intervention

Even if what will happen has already happened

Time is no matter for a God

Of colliding galaxies and falling sparrows 

It is a great gift and sorrowful burden

To be given a heart 

That can mourn the death of stars

Like our own mothers

***********************************************************

Note*  I am sorry that the word “awesome”

was no longer available for use in this poem

But Like stars words also dissolve and die

Though it may take years for our ears to notice

Later in this same letter Vincent writes:  “...The Benedictine father must have been very interesting. What would, according to him, be the future religion? Probably he would always say the same as the past.  Victor Hugo says God is an eclipsing lighthouse, and certainly now we are passing through that eclipse.  I only wish that someone could prove to us something calming which comforted us, so that we stopped feeling guilty or unhappy and that we could go forward without losing ourselves in the solitude or nothingness, and without having to fear every step, or to nervously calculate the harm we may unintentionally be doing to others.  In odd Giotto's biography it said that he was always suffering and always full of ardour and ideas.  I would like to arrive at this assurance that makes one happy, cheerful and alive all the time.”

Ever Yours, Vincent."

Up above is my latest painting. It is pretty big at 8 feet by 3 feet (perhaps I should consider selling art by the square foot?). I was inspired by both Caspar David Friedrich’s “The Monk By the Sea,” and Rublev’s, ‘The Trinity,‘  though I aught let others recognize and say that.  It was said of Friedrich though that, “Here is a man who has discovered the tragedy of landscape.”  I was not trying to evoke tragedy here but I will not deny it if others find it there.  I don’t have a title for the painting and I would appreciate suggestions.  Ever yours, Daniel and obliged.