The Rembrandt Room
October 19, 1981
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.