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See the poem

Access David's library to discover his poems, essays, courses and short films

You start
with a painter’s hand
working up color
from a dark palette
of remembrance

(from “The Painter’s Hand”)

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your home

tonight.

(from “Sweet Darkness”)

Despair takes us in when we

have nowhere else to go;

when we feel the heart

cannot break anymore, when

our world or our loved ones

disappear, when we feel we

cannot be loved or do not

deserve to be loved, when

our God disappoints, or

when our body is carrying

profound pain in a way

that does not seem to go away.

(from “Despair”)

You start
with a painter’s hand
working up color
from a dark palette
of remembrance

(from “The Painter’s Hand”)

What you can plan
is too small
for you to live.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure

you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your home

tonight.

(from “Sweet Darkness”)

Despair takes us in when we

have nowhere else to go;

when we feel the heart

cannot break anymore, when

our world or our loved ones

disappear, when we feel we

cannot be loved or do not

deserve to be loved, when

our God disappoints, or

when our body is carrying

profound pain in a way

that does not seem to go away.

(from “Despair”)

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Poetry and essays

The complete collection of David's published poetry and essays.

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A rich archive of talks and online sessions, including the Three Sundays Series.

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