Loss
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Absent Wonder
I wandered through woods, towering stands of oak and beech,clamoured over endless swells of golden dunes,scrambled up and slid down slopes of sun-warmed sand. I marvelled at the perfect circles drawn by blades of restless beach grass,like the… Continue reading
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Christmas Cozy
I told himthat each year at ChristmasI like to read Christmas stories and Christmas poems. He said,"No one does Christmas cozy like Dirk!" And I thought of the story by Dickens I'd just read,about poverty and injustice in 19th-century London.I… Continue reading
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Ristra
These fresh peppers–fire-engine red and leather-supple,all youth and loudness–gather,jostling and laughing,enjoying the attention. They age,color mellowing to burgundy,skin stiffening. Relaxed now, they fall silent,awed by the heat building within,ready to release the firefor which they were bred. Young peppers flash;old… Continue reading
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Ego? Egad!
I. My egoneeds less stage-time.He needs a caring cast memberto escort him into the wings,assuring him that he's doing a fine joband can now take a break,have a smoke and chill.The play goes on;we will retrieve him if needed. Sadly,… Continue reading
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Existence/Experience
When my father died,I looked through his vast library,and ran my fingers over the polished surfacesof the furniture he had built,and asked,"What was the point?" Then, when my mother died,I looked at her wall of needlepoint,and thumbed through her boxesof… Continue reading
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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
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My Yappy Dog (My Ego)
My yappy dog (my ego)kept me up last nightbarking at imagined invaders."Hush!" I'd say.It made no difference;he was certain intruders had breached our defensesand we were doomed. I even got upto lead him through the houseand show him that all was… Continue reading
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Revelation
A whirlwindthrowing light,God spins by,erasing the lineI'd carefully drawnbetween sacred and secular. Laughing, God calls back,"Haven't you heard?I am the anti-boundary!" Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading
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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
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Beings of Light
"I am surrounded by beings of light,"he said, and then,"Can you see them?" I could not,though I did not doubt him;as surely as he was here,they had to be here, too–had to!—to comfort him, certainly,perhaps to lead him along. Then,… Continue reading