Moonlight

When I think of The Netherlands, Van Gogh comes to mind.  His nights and his days. The history that surrounds him and his beloved brother.  Paintings that you can’t get out of your mind.  And then, this morning, Patti Smith posted on her Instagram account about another Dutch genius:  Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669).  His landscape and moonlight paintings are just mesmerizing.  As Patti Smith is in Amsterdam, she posted this with a picture of the lamp outside her window:

This is the lantern outside my window.

I awoke suddenly and it was 5 am.

It was too cloudy to see the full

moon but I could feel it. Looking

down at the canal I thought about

Rembrandt who once lived close by.

I imagined him walking in the night

regarding the effect of moonlight

on the water. I imagined him moved

by unfolding dawn. I imagined him

returning home; entering his studio,

and picking up a brush as the morning

light poured through his window.