The 60-Second Sabbath

Nature

  • Balaam’s Ass

    This morning,saddle up your heart's donkeyand let it take youwhere you fear to go. Expect a bumpy ride–you can't even imaginewhat you'll find–wasps, thorns, snakes and black flies,selfishness and murderous thoughts,parts you'd burned and buriedbut which still crawl,scarred and in… Continue reading

  • Take Me with You

    When was the last timeyou spent an hourin sacred bliss?When and where and how? Next time,take me with you. Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.  Continue reading

  • The Lord’s Prayer, Stanza 2

    We shall relate to youand to one another–with awe,with honor,with respect. Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.   Continue reading

  • Everyone Out!

    Whose tombs were emptied this Easter morn?The earth opened, upended,overturned like a shoeboxof faded photos and forgotten mementos: Everyone out! No more clinging to outdated transgressionsand threadbare insecurity. What you've never imaginedis all you see.  Text and image © 2011… Continue reading

  • Night Prayer

    I loved your still world tonight.I walked it gently.I saw cold, silent moonlight    shining off the faces of polished tombstones.I passed drifts of fallen leaves resting in their hollows.I looked up through unmoving branches,    bare and black against the sky.I saw a… Continue reading

  • With No Offense

    With no offense meantto theologians or accountants: A theologiantrying to explain Godis like an accountanttrying to explain poetry. Text and image © 2011 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. (Concept suggested by Wm. J. O'Malley.) Continue reading

  • Rain

    I will sleep well tonight,with the rush of rain around me,with the woosh of water as cars pass in the street,the drum of drops from the roof to the porch,the hiss of mist whispering through blades of grass,earth greening herself… Continue reading

  • The Tree of Madness

    In a seldom visited corner of the Gardengrows the Tree of Madness,so well hiddenits fruit ripens unforbidden. But one warm afternoonas she pushes curiously through the jungletendrils trailing over her bare shouldersEve comes upon it–    twisted branches,     spiny fruit,     roots coiling… Continue reading

  • Between

    Between your current exhalationand the inhalation to followis a brief momentwhen your breathing stops. (There, it just happened.Were you aware?) Imagine that moment of no breathas the pause of possibility. (It just happened again.) Your life began with an inhalationand… Continue reading

  • Problems in the Garden of Eden

    "This isn't working out,"God says to the first man and first woman."I had this great plan,but you're not cooperating." "What's the problem?"the woman asks."Aren't we following the rules?" "Well, that's exactly it."God sighs and draws his hand across his face."I… Continue reading