STENDHAL SYNDROME

He gave his nom de plume to a syndrome

that speeds the heart and makes consciousness faint

in the presence of preserved pronouncements,

skillfully and visually presented,

conveying significance or beauty.

Art is a three-letter word, and, like God,

sublime for the most part. Look in its face,

and you‘ll see beyond brushstrokes in pigment,

through dark, behind light, past surface to thought

merging with creation’s wry illusion.

The eternal speaks deafeningly to

it’s souls, within such vivid silences.