Gratitude

  • On the Third Day of Christmas

    All that stuff you've lost through the years–     Barbies and Hot Wheels,    LEGOs and barrettes,    baseballs and golf balls,    jobs and hobbies,    best friends and beloved pets,    lovers and loved ones,    innocence,   … Continue reading

  • Gifts

    I might bemoanthe babe-obscuring frenzyof the mall at Christmastime:     The perfect gift!    The ultimate gift!    The gift they really want! Gift craving,    gift hawking,gift buying,    gift wrapping,gift giving,    gift returning… I feel gift pressure;I suffer from gift… Continue reading

  • Haiku for the Christmas Tree

    Washed in colored lightand tears and memory, I'mundone by wonder. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Corduroy

    Was going to write something this morning,but then a cat climbs up on my lapand curls into a tight, plump, capital "C,"settling onto the brown, wide-wale corduroyof the bathrobe my mother sewed for meover thirty years ago,and then the cat… Continue reading

  • Advent Lantern

    I hold my lantern overhead,and turning, look back at the past–such darkness blocks remembrance,only pinpricks of light in a field of black. I turn to look ahead.The light of my lanterncannot penetrate the fog of future's uncertainty.I hear muffled voices;unformed… Continue reading

  • This Moment, Expanded

    Stop focusingon what's missingfrom this moment.Focus insteadon what this momentoffers:    texture    color    movement    inspiration    affection    wonder    stillness Your egowants to catalogwhat the moment lacks. Your soulwants to reveal the momentfor what it truly… Continue reading

  • This Moment

    We can critiqueeach momentfor what it lacks. Or we can embraceeach momentfor what it offers. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Impermanence

    Even the finest things,those we treasure most,are meant to fray, unravel and pass away:     my grandmother's hand-stitched coverlet,    the scarf I knitted for my mother in third grade,    my father's favorite flannel shirt,     friendships, … Continue reading

  • All Steps on the Path

    When you realize you've stopped paying attention,you are paying attention. When you recognize you're not here,you are here. When you become aware that you're living outside of now,you've returned to now. These are steps on the path called mindfulness,on the… Continue reading

  • Blink

    Aging,we realize that we are any given agefor only a moment. So quickly it passes–all passes. At this end of the journeywe become observers(like God,outside the stream of time,watching time's flightlike a single turning of the clock):     a… Continue reading