The 60-Second Sabbath

Compromising the Divine

Our ideas of God
    always conform
to the norms of our culture.

How radical faith would be
    if we could cross
these imagined borders.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

The Eyes of God

God looks at you
and experiences ecstasy.

Shall we do any less
when we look at one another?

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Grandmother's Farmhouse

After she died,
grandmother's farmhouse--
without anyone's intending it--
evolved into a shrine,
a monument to our lost history.

Untouched, year upon year,
it dusted over,
much like, every week,
the oak table that anchored the kitchen
dusted over with flour on baking day--
only everywhere now--
thick on painted window sills,
on the maple dresser with her hairbrush and combs,
on the lace doilies protecting the backs and arms
    of the living-room chairs,
on the 1060 Philco TV with its rabbit ears,
on the black rotary  phone in the niche in the foyer...

And the only disruption
to this slow layering of time,
this particle-by-particle obscuring of memory,
were our occasional, sad footprints
across the hardwood floor,
and the thin crisscrossing tracks of the field mice
for whom this ancient house
was the Holy Land, Mecca, Nirvana
safety, security, a vast and silent playground,
from generation unto generation...

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Reverie

She looked beyond the sink--
filled with soapy water and chipped cups--
out the open window to the western sky,
which flamed with orange and red,
like heaven itself were burning to the ground.

The living-room stereo
delivered the "Flower Duet"
from her favorite opera, Lakmé.

It was the music
that translated dish-washing
into reverie.

Were you there,
you would have heard her long sigh.
Were you there,
you might have asked,
"Honey--you all right?"

But you were not there,
nor was I.
She was,
as ever,
alone,
alone with the divine harmony
and the scorched sky.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

 

Forever Fasting

Gorge yourself
one final time
on the delicacies
of the world

Then fast forever,
living only on
the exhalations of God.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Feline Healing

I hold my cat,
and he holds me.

It may be the release of endorphins
or the exchange of spirit,
golden and shimmering--

but we heal--

both he and I--

we heal.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Odd Company

You hang with questionable companions:
    loneliness,
    suspicion,
    fear,
    anger,
    hurt...
Why cultivate such company?
With these kinds of friends,
who needs enemies?

Say, then,
"I've lost interest in you.
I have a life to live,
and you're taking up
too much time and energy.
Buh-bye, now."

Without your focus
(on which they feed like half-starved dogs)
they leave.
Watch them exit your back door,
kicking up dust as they shamble off.

Now hang out with your Self.
Sit with the quiet, dignified beauty
of you--
simple and spacious and free.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

The House

I built the house
solidly
and strong--
heavy shutters guard the windows,
strong bolts secure the doors--
an unmovable house,
unshakably safe.

I stand on the street,
admiring my house,
my sturdy, inpenetrable house. 

An old woman creaks by,
leaning on her walker;
"Quite the house," she says.

"Yes," I say proudly,
though slightly annoyed by the intrusion.
This won't happen once I'm inside,
I think.

She chuckles, shuffling on:
"What a blessing
you've locked yourself out."

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Post-Election Analysis, 2012

Do you live from fear?
Do any of these statements sound familiar?

"The nation is falling apart."
"They are against us."
"We have the answers--if only they would listen."
"Protect yourself at all cost."
"She's an idiot."
"He's trying to rob us of our freedom...
    of our way of life...
    of our money...
    of our faith...
    of the way it's always been."

This is how elections are run--
on fear--
if they win, all will be lost,
if we win, we'll be safe.

Fear.

Faith leaves no room for fear.

If you don't get this,
go back and read your holy book,
or just sit still for one damn minute
and take an honest look at your heart.

Your judgments,
your strongly voiced opinions,
your rants--
you imagine these come
from a place of clear, righteous, justifiable indignation
(perhaps even from God),
but they do not.

They come from fear.

And there is no love in fear.

You are not your fear;
stop identifying with it.

There is freedom just beyond.

Better than that,
there is the possibility
of a real and joyful relationship
with yourself,
with God.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

If God Is...

If God is,
than God is so much greater
than anything we've been taught
or can possibly imagine.

If God is
then we live in a universe
conquered by love.

If God is,
then (what relief!)
we can cease our striving
to convert, to persuade, to change, to save--
it is finished.

If God is,
then all is well,
all are already within.

The thought of any without
is blasphemy,
a denial of
the
single,
great,
Is.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.