I was, I still am, a maker. I had a gift and I used itTo capture life itself- the one gift I never treasuredEnough. I have so little time left, I fear I may have lostAll I wanted to give to those I love.And yet, I feel the cold hand of deathBeckoning me,Telling me I […]
The Shadow of the Mountain
The Quilt The waters in the creek were dark. They always have been. Since Jesse was a boy, the color had never changed—a grayish brown, merely because the sky beckoned it to be so— and one could never see beyond its surface. The dark silhouettes of the figures above reflected off its surface, which rippled […]
Death of a Gambler
I buried the old gambler at dusk,His withered hands clutchingAt dice and cards.Riches were his only hopeBut his crumpled suit is empty–No more games to play. He only wanted one more winAnd no one stopped himFrom wagering all he hadAnd all he didn’t have.His hand was nearly perfect,But nearly wasn’t good enough. Casting dice is […]
Happily Ever After
When I was a child, many of the fairy tales I read began with the words once upon a time and ended with the phrase happily ever after. With these words, I was transported to a magical world where anything seemed possible. Stories like fairy tales captivate the minds of humans, youth and adults alike, […]
A Rightful Fear of Fate
In the iconic painting “The Death of Socrates” by Jacques Louis David, the philosopher sits on his bed, lecturing his followers in his final minutes on the immortality of the soul, his finger raised toward heaven to indicate the subject of his discussion.[1] At the suggestion of the poet André Chénier, David painted Socrates such […]
The Gospel Restoration of Fleeting Beauty
Embodying restoration, the Japanese art of Kintsugi reconnects broken pottery fragments with precious metal brushed in gold dust. Literally meaning “gold repair,” Kintsugi captures a philosophy of beautifying unavoidable imperfections, restoring purposeless cracks to an adorned state of beauty. Though many wrestle to define beauty [1], all humans have an innate inclination toward what we […]