Advent

  • O Antiphons: Key of David

        O come, thou Key of David, come,        and open wide our heavenly home;    make safe the way that leads on high,        and close the path to misery. The Key is on its way;hold on a… Continue reading

  • O Antiphons: Desire of Nations

        O come, Desire of nations, bind        in one the hearts of humankind,    bid thou our sad divisions cease,        and be thyself our King of Peace. The world, worn and weary,barely able to rise from bed each morning,tired of grieving… Continue reading

  • O Antiphons: Dayspring

        O come, thou Dayspring from on high,        and cheer us by thy drawing nigh;    dispense the gloomy clouds of night,        and death's dark shadow put to flight. We watchnot only through dark nightsbut also dark days.Who filled the worldwith… Continue reading

  • O Antiphons: Branch

        O come, thou Branch of Jesse's tree,    free them from Satan's tyranny    that trust thy mighty power to save,    and give them victory o'er the grave. You come to free us.Oh, and there is so… Continue reading

  • O Antiphons: Lord

        O come, O come, thou Lord of might,    who to thy tribes on Sinai's height,    in ancient times didst give the law,    in cloud, and majesty, and awe. Shrouded Mystery,Evolver of faith,at your approachbreathing ceases;I… Continue reading

  • O Antiphons: Wisdom

        O come, thou Wisdom from on high        who orderest all things mightily;    to us the path of knowledge show        and leads us in her ways to go. Wisdom approaches,and I hope, with her arrival,to walk… 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

  • 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

  • Advent 17

    Late Christmas Eveand, by the light of the tree, I sit in the living room writing.The final CD ends;quiet settles about me like an old wool afghan. So this is actually it–that about which we've endlessly sung–the silent night. I… Continue reading

  • My Soul

    My soulis a temple in ruins.Where thousands once worshippedonly the common starlings–black against the cracked white marble–pace and peck for seeds. Only a soul in ruinsallows in, without constraint,the sun, rain and wind,the incense of pines,the glow of yellow daffodils,the… Continue reading