The 60-Second Sabbath

Loss

  • Reflections on Good Friday

    Good Friday.Tenebrae.Encroaching darkness,stillness. We gather to acknowledge loss–the loss of Christ on the cross,that great loss that echoes, honors, confirms our own.Tonight wraps us in loss.Tonight we wear the cloak of loss.Tonight darkness sweeps the earth    without the promise… Continue reading

  • Good Friday, 2012

    Nowseewhatyou'vegoneanddone? Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. (With thanks to Jim.)   Continue reading

  • The Dream

    I am in my childhood home–but larger–its many rooms running parallel to the lakeshore. I step into the final room,where a young woman and I nearly collide:she is 20ish, thin, with long hair.Startled, she screams;startled, I jump, wonder,"Who are you?… Continue reading

  • Forty Years

    I've been toldthe spirits of the deadlinger for forty years,grieving their own passing. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.   Continue reading

  • The Edges of This World

    The edges of this worldare often slippery and unstable;I lose my balanceand fall within…to the voice of God,the sound of the thinnest silence. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Screen Door

    From where I sit at the worn oak tablein the center of the kitchenat the heart of the house,I see the sunset–orange, gold, red, yellow–perfectly framed in the warped screen doorleading to the back porch,where the railing leans outward,and the… Continue reading

  • The Saints

    I read the lives of the saints.I ask, "What do I do with this knowledge–this sacrifice,this willingness to suffer for the sake of others,to release all for a leap into the unknown?" And the answer comes to me,"It's not what… Continue reading

  • My Hope

    My hope? That death bringsa return to the Womb: quiet,darkness,warmth. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Penitence

    P is for presuming I've compassion.E is for the envy that I feel.N is the nursing of depression.I is for the innocence I steal.T is for the time I keep on wasting.E is for each moment lived in fear.N is… Continue reading

  • No Entry

    What are our limits?How will we recognize them? The award-winner speaks from the platform:"If you can dream it, you can do it!" But I think of all the dreamers–including women and men I know and love–whose dreams remained unfulfilled. No… Continue reading