The 60-Second Sabbath

grief

  • Year of Sorrow

    This the year of repeat sorrow;grief has ploughed a long, deep furrow,through the center of my soul. When again will I feel whole?Seeds are planted, yet no yield.Who attends this fallow field? Patience, heart, the Farmer works,waters, feeds and care… Continue reading

  • For Bonnie

    Somewhere in the city,this dark September morning,before light infuses the eastern sky,before the crows stir and lift and caw their way back into the day,someone I knowkeeps watch at the bedsideof her dying sister. This sister, the one hovering near… Continue reading

  • Grief

    In that moment–that split second of inexpressible loss–she felt herself both diminish and expand. And while her mind yet reeledat the harsh actuality of it,something shifted deep within,reoriented in the direction of truthand therefore freedom. She would not understand this… Continue reading

  • Aurora, CO, July 20, 2012

    Take nothing you lovefor granted. Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved. Continue reading

  • Steal This Bible

    Steal this Bible from Days Inn!reads the stickeron the King James Biblefrom the bedside standin the motel where he's stoppedin the middle of Nebraskaon the cold side of I-80. Neon glows through the rain-streaked window,falls on the words of the… Continue reading

  • When I Lost My Parents

    When I lost my parents(as in death, not in the grocery store)I questioned the purposeof their life's creative output:    my mother's needlework;    my father's woodworking;    my mothers hand-written, stained recipe cards;    my father's watercolor paintings of… Continue reading

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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