Solitude

You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
-- Psalm 91.1-2 (NRSV)

The Bench of Saint-Rémy by Vincent Van Gogh:



During his stay at the asylum at Saint- Rémy, Van Gogh found obvious inspiration for his work in the garden (which Gerhard Gruitrooy calls “romantically neglected”). The garden likely attracted peace-seeking guards and inmates alike, but nearly all of Van Gogh’s renderings of it are unpopulated. Whether the space was busy or not, Van Gogh at least thought of it, as his paintings indicate, as a place of solitude and a source of quiet.

In the secret, in the quiet place
In the stillness You are there
In the secret, in the quiet hour
I wait only for You.
-- Andy Park, "In the Secret"