there are only two paintings
that have ever brought me to tears

the Sistine Chapel
with all its tourists clicking into each other
heads titled towards the ceiling
like a convention of broken Pez dispensers

the glorious work
gazing back down at us from Heaven
with all its ancient secrets and angelic songs

i could not help but stop
to hear the notes
every single one

the second an unnamed Monet
on a small piece of linen
of a train station that he must have used
on his way to Giverny

the iron horse and its passengers
perfectly paused there with its cumulus of smoke and desire
their heads lost in a gossamer of steam and progress

all of them rumbling headlong
toward a century of fantastic flying machines
and war

no one seems to notice
the quiet bearded man
off in the corner

his eyes drowning in light
his hand touching God’s
like Adam