The Rembrandt Room

I sat a long while in the Rembrandt room And let those living eyes search out my depths. I saw the faces move from out the gloom

Into the light. Then suddenly I met

The gaze of him who brought the others here

and felt the firm restraint, the self-denial -

The disciplined compassion, and the clear

Distinction between trivia and detail.

The centuries collapsed beneath the weight

Of timeless individuality.

The Rembrandt room transcended time and space

To catch the present up eternally.

The teeming centuries were tightly linked

By individuality, intact, distinct.