Vincent Van Gogh 22 - Terril Pyramid Poem by Geeta Radhakrishna Menon

Vincent shifted from the little room in the bakery,
To a large house of his own, known as Salon du Bebe
At the bottom of ravine, surrounded by the pine woods.
He was an authorized evangelist now! In this place,
Vincent gathered children between ages of four and eight,
Taught them how to read and told them biblical stories.
Jacques Verney had helped Vincent to secure this salon.
But to keep the place warm for his meetings, he needed coal.

A group of miner's wives and daughters,
Arrived at the salon, the very next day,
Carrying sacks in their hands to collect coal,
Clad in their long black skirts, black blouses
And blue kerchiefs tied over their heads.
Jacques Verney's daughter too came along
To lead the way up to ‘black terril pyramid'.
She handed a sack to Vincent as well,
Instructing him, how to fill the sack with coal.

Vincent joined the group to collect coal.
But it was not an easy climb for Vincent.
He had to go up most of the way on his hands
And knees, sliding down every now and then.
The women and children scrambled up effortlessly
Like young goats, agile, alert and quick.
Mademoiselle Verney squatted on her haunches
Playfully threw little pieces of caked mud at Vincent.

Mademoiselle Verney was a pretty girl, vivacious, jovial.
She teased Vincent and helped him discern the real coal.
'She showed Vincent how to scoop up the terril in his hands
And let the mud, rocks, clay and other foreign substances
Slip through his fingers…..The terril was wet from the snow
And rain, and soon Vincent's hands were scratched and cut,
But he managed to get a quarter of a sack full of what he
Hoped was coal, by the time the women had nearly filled theirs.'

At the end of the trip to ‘Terril Pyramid',
Mademoiselle Verney very kindly invited
Vincent to their home to share the supper.
He accepted and joined the Verney family with gratitude.
Jacques Verney was well off, compared to the other miners,
But Vincent was surprised that there was no soap in the house.

'Soap was an impossible luxury for the Borains.
From the time that the boy begins to descend
The ‘Charbonnage' and the girl begins to ascend
The ‘Terril' until the day they die, the Borains
Never completely get the coal-dust off their faces.'

Vincent scrubbed his hand and face with cold water
As best as he could. But he could not remove
The dark patches, spots or streaks.
He realized he looked exactly like all the miners, now
With black lines of coal dust and smoke on his face and hands!

A colossal thought wafted like a wind into his mind.
To know the miners, to understand their angst,
He had to become a miner himself!
The miners represented an existential reality
Far too deeper than any iconographic representation!

A Biographical Poem