And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry, starry night...

"you took your life as lovers often do, but I could've told you, Vincent...the world was never meant for one as beautiful as you. "--Don McLean

I've begun reading Van Gogh-The Complete Paintings by Walther and Metzger. It's a two volume set of texts that I've been dragging from house-to-house, country-to-country since I bought them in Italy in 1996. I didn't have any bills when I was in the military, and so I spent many paychecks either in Venice on over-priced cappucinos at St. Mark's square or on books at the base bookstore. This particular set was one of those carefree purchases. My humanities teacher in high school really got me interested in Van Gogh--almost in spite of myself. On the first day of class, he would write HUMAN-I-TIES on the board and ask us to think about the word for a couple of minutes. To think about the "TIES" that bind us as "HUMANS", and where "I" fit into all of this. Of course, humans are connected by the specific necessity to express themselves artistically. No other animal does this. We students would walk into the room, and Don McLean's "Vincent" would be playing. I can still hear the words if I listen to closely to my memories...