Vincent Van Gogh 30 - The End Of Sermon Poem by Geeta Radhakrishna Menon

The miners requested Vincent to hold services
For the fifty seven people, who had lost their lives,
And for the lost souls earlier to the accident, as well.
Over hundred people gathered in Vincent's tiny hut.
Since the accident, Vincent had had no food at all.
He sustained himself with a bit of coffee, now and then.
He had become lean and weak, unable, even to stand.
Both fever and a kind of deep anguish had returned.
His eyes and cheeks were sunk in, like two deep holes.
His red beard was all over his face, unwashed and dirty.
He had wrapped himself in a sack, as he had no clothes.
Only a single lamp illuminated the pathetic shack.

In spite of this miserable condition, people crowded
In the little hut, as they felt, Vincent was their only saviour.
Jacques Verney had died in the accident. And now,
There was no one to guide or help the miners.
As Vincent began to speak in a feverish voice,
There was silence. The starved Borains listened to him.
He was their God. Suddenly, loud voices disturbed the sermon.
Two well dressed men, walked into the shack.
It was reverend de Jong and reverend van den Brink,
The two evangelists, who had rejected Vincent in Brussels.
They were shocked, horrified when they saw Vincent.
For a while, they just stood staring, unable to speak.

Both the priests began shouting at Vincent.
" Shocking! Simply shocking! " They cried
"You would think you were in the jungles of Africa.
Heaven only knows, how much harm he has done.
It may take years to bring these people
Back to Christianity……..This chap is absolutely mad…
I suspected he was insane all the while.I never did trust him."
No one understood what they spoke, as they spoke in French.
Vincent was too emaciated and washed out to understand
The import of their talk. They shouted at Vincent:
"Send these filthy dogs home! "

As the miners walked out of the hut, reluctantly,
The priests continued their scolding with angry words.
They called Vincent's conduct and behaviour -
"Absolutely disgusting and disgraceful".
His appointment as a priest was cancelled.
He was fired from the services to the church.
Henceforth, he would not receive any salary.
They called him the worst enemy of Christianity.
Belgian Evangelical Church had never
Encountered a man like Vincent!
As the two men walked out of shack,
Vincent remained motionless, speechless on his straw bed.

A Biographical Poem!