Dear friend, let me look into your eyes 
blue as the serge suit you are wearing. 
You deserve so much more 
than the gold on your jacket. 

It cannot repay your relationship 
with my first love, the Dutchman 
whom you alone befriended 
when he was living in Arles. 

Yes, I know you are married, 
have five children; I’ve 
often watched your wife rock 
the cradle, crooning her lullaby. 

Your older son once spent 
time in the small room off 
my bedroom. Now you 
inhabit my guestroom. 

It’s so much better 
having you here, you see. 
In the past the only way 
I got to spend time with you 

was at the MFA. And then 
it was never in private—
someone was always looking 
over my shoulder. 

Please give me your gnarled 
hands; let me massage those 
arthritic fingers. You know 
you must keep them in shape: 

You still have many more 
years to deliver letters. 
What a pity you’ll never 
receive mine. 

—After a painting by Vincent van Gogh:

Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin (oil on canvas, 1888)

This painting by Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) is held by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The work is from a series of portraits of the Roulin family—Joseph and his wife, Augustine, and their three children, Armand, Camille and Marcelle—which Van Gogh painted in 1888 and 1889 in Arles, France.

For comprehensive details, as well as reproductions of the portraits, see the Wikipedia article: The Roulin Family

Image above was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons in August 2024.

Susan Thanas,

retired English teacher from Duxbury High and Middle Schools in Duxbury, Massachusetts, began to write poetry when Duxbury High sponsored Barbara Helfgott Hyatt as Poet in Residence in the late 1970s. Susan’s poetry often reflects her experiences in life with family and places she has known well. She is an active member of the Poetry Circle at Duxbury Free Library and Poetry the Art of Words in Plymouth, where she was recently a featured poet.