Vincent Van Gogh 10 - A Love Lost Forever Poem by Geeta Radhakrishna Menon

Vincent left London and went to his little village in Zundert.
His father Theodorous came to receive his eldest son,
At the Breda Station, and take him home in a carriage.
The moment the carriage halted before their house,
Vincent's mother Anna, hurriedly came out of the house
To greet her son with a warm embrace.
Seeing her son's face, so passive, sad and forlorn,
She knew that all was not well with her son.
She had a strong intuition, that it was the girl
In London, who caused such unhappiness in her son's life.

Zundert was a rural area with pine woods and oak trees.
Vincent spent few days walking alone in the fields,
Gazing down into ponds scattered around the heath.
He enjoyed drawing and sketching the garden and the nature.
That was the only way to divert his mind from thoughts of Ursula.
His father offered to transfer his job from London to Paris,
But Vincent said he did not want to leave London yet.
His parents saw him off at the station, after a short stay with them.
His mother warmly holding his hand, said: 'Don't be unhappy, my dear.
You will be better off with a nice Dutch girl….that Ursula girl is not your kind.'

Back in London, Vincent took furnished rooms in Kensington New Road.
Ursula occupied his thoughts most hauntingly and he was always pensive.
It was a torture for him not to see her or talk to her.
In the evenings, he would rush out of the house, walk down all the way,
And stand before the house of the Loyers, for a glimpse of Ursula.
Once, he went up to the door and knocked. When Ursula opened the door
And saw Vincent standing, she shouted: ‘[Go away.'
She slammed the door on his face. The next day, he sailed off to Holland.
Later, he spent a few days with his parents in Zundert.
Thereafter, he took up a job as a Teacher at Ramsgate, a seaport town,
Just few hours by train from London.

Nothing deterred Vincent. He persisted pursuing Ursula, like a man possessed.
He could not forget Ursula or the pain that accompanied the loss of his love.
He would walk miles and miles, in rain and storm, from Ramsgate to London,
With a glimmer of hope, standing before their house, staring vacantly.
This kind of frenzy continued, till the date of the Ursula's wedding.
Finally, the spell was broken, only when he saw Ursula dressed as a bride,
Coming out of the church, happily married, walking down arm in arm,
With a tall, slim, young bridegroom, as the guests cheered the couple.
He saw the couple getting into the carriage, embracing and kissing.
As the carriage drove away, something vital snapped within him -
A sinking feeling of love lost forever!

A Biographical Poem