The diagnosis came like a bolt from the blue. As a priest, I have regularly been near death and dying, but I found myself unprepared for the inevitable in my case.
The other day I heard a fine choir sing "The heavens' flock" — a setting by the Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds of a text by the poet Paulann Petersen. (Have a listen here.) What follows is a series of meditations prompted by my encounter with this music and ... Read More...
Ice fell from the sky last night,
and tree branches now bear its weight.
We heard them groan and crack in the dark,
gun shots ringing out through the still woods.
In the morning some limbs hang ... Read More...