May 16, 2009

When temperatures soar here in the desert, any flower is welcome. In the wee of the night, When the whir of the fan is my companion, When glow of the clock casts blue shadows, He comes knocking at the window of my mind. He comes, uninvited, unwelcome, and despite my resolve to keep him from my bed, he comes and lies with me, The solitude has robbed my reason. I sleep in fits and starts, turning this way and that, but as slumber comes, he prods me. He will not be ignored. Then daybreak brings new light, and my old foe gets up from my bed and excuses himself, he is a giant in the stillness of night, but at morning he is a wisp, a fleeting shadow. As I have grown old and come to grips with the things that I cannot control, my nighttime tormentor rarely visit. As an American of Dutch ancestry, I'm obliged to adore Van Gogh. I hope you do too. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky

13 comments:

R.L. Bourges said...

Here's to the flowers, and the fleeting morning shadow. To Vincent, to Don McLean and to those who stop, look and listent. Some do.

Excellent Sunday to you and yours.

Nan Patience said...

Merle, you wrote that? I shudder to think what it means.

Barbara said...

The light of day is often welcome, yes? Unfortunately night thoughts sometimes know no bounds.

I love Starry, Starry Night in all its renditions!

bitchlet said...

The only painting that Van Gogh ever sold was "The Potato Eaters". You probably know this.

Squirrel said...

I love Van Gogh. the very first nice art book I got as a child was a book of his prints--and I still have it. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is wonderful ~ I can imagine a Van Sneed would love to escape in August to Holland ~.

Reya Mellicker said...

Did you write that? Wow!!

Just saw an exhibit about medieval and Renaissance ideas about sleep and nightmares - really cool. They also thought long and hard about dream interpretations.

I still have nightmares but I don't worry about them as much when I'm awake as I used to.

The flowers are so beautiful. I never met a yellow rose I didn't like.

Reya Mellicker said...

Re yesterday's post. People have always been rude. Cell phones are yet another opportunity not to pay attention.

Steve Reed said...

A flower is always welcome, indeed.

Even after reading your blog for years, you sometimes still surprise me, Merle. I think I'm going to hear about the Seafood King and instead I get this amazing poem. You're a man of unpredictable depths!

mouse (aka kimy) said...

I love van gogh also and not even obliged to!

expect you heard the latest theorizing about how his ear when missing, heck maybe you posted about it and I missed it....been a bit lax keeping up with spring springing and all that!!

can't wait to hear if you get called when you go in on thursday.....

mouse (aka kimy) said...

forgot to mention....awesome poem

Kurt said...

My nighttime tormentor just appeared in the last few years. Bastard.

Kurt said...

The tormentor, not you.

Bella Rum said...

I have one of those nighttime visitors. Loved the video and poem.