Growth

  • In the Forest

    You are lost in a forest.The undergrowth blocks you.Trees lean in.Light fades.Unidentified noises circle. What dangers waitin the creeping darkness?  You know, don't you?You've always feared    your erratic behaviors    your in-crowding thoughts,    your disquieting longings,    your… Continue reading

  • Empty

    "This morning,"she said,hands wrapped for warmtharound her coffee cup,"I woke up empty." "Empty?" he asked,spoonful of All-Branhalfway to his mouth."Empty as in…how?"For him,empty could be good, like Zen:    open,    clear,    ready.Or empty could be sad, like death: … Continue reading

  • A Life of Meaning

    If you want that life–that life of meaning,that life of union with the divine,that life of satisfaction, devotion, wholeness,that life of true and constant perspective–then pursue it full-heartedly. Don't go about it half-assed.It's all or nothing. Text and image © 2013… Continue reading

  • Where Emptiness Leads

    early morning darknesshouse chill from winter's nighthe sits on the couchalone, sadtentatively tasting an emptinesshe can't yet labelhe waits for the padded arms of the couchto wrap and hold himassure him the emptinesswhatever it iswill passor fillor perhaps take himsomewhereanywhereinto… Continue reading

  • What Waits Within

    The blooming roselives within the bud,the blood-red tulipwithin the dormant bulb,the canopy of sheltering leaveswithin the bare branch braced    against the raw winter wind. What then waitswithin you? Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Incarnation

    We,the children of incarnation,hereby declarethat we are not one,but many.We are composite;we are alloy. Pure? No, never.Emphatically. We are the cross-bred childrenof the cross-bred children,of the original parents–the melding of divinity and humanity,as was intended,as was anticipated. We,arethe childrenof messy,… Continue reading

  • Yin-Yang

    I come upon the cats,sleeping as you see below–"yin-yang," I describe it,all things in balance,passive and active,female and male,nurture and creativity,earth and sky. Something in their naturally posed stillness,which I observe at least once a week,speaks to me of the… Continue reading

  • Aging

    Growing old?I can handle such.Growing up?Well, not so much. Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.   Continue reading

  • “You Are What You Love”

    Rumi suggests,"You are what you love."What then are you? I am silence.I am friends.I am a photograph    revealing the unexpected.I am a poem    provoking discovery.I am a walk in the woods.I am music.I am wonder.I am God. Text… Continue reading

  • Epiphany, 2013

    It is the nature of epiphaniesto catch one off-guard,like an unanticipated camera flashin a darkened room. Epiphaniesstartle–startle us out of our minds,out of our wrong minds,into our authentic minds,    the ones from which    we could live    with… Continue reading