Van Gogh's Ear

Van Gogh’s ear didn’t mean much to me
until today. I saw that maybe another man
had cut it off, his former friend Gauguin.
In these days I don’t ever think you’ll see

someone cut off someone else’s ear with a rapier.
To me, the thought of those two foe-ing friends
is quixotic. Couldn’t they have settled it with pens,
or brushes? Ink is nothing but blood on paper.