A Single Thread
Posted on | February 23, 2010 | 1 Comment
This Blog is meant for occasional professional writings and events, but sometimes the boundaries between personal and public slip away and I feel compelled to write to you about the death of Steve DeGruchy, son of my dear friends John and Isobel DeGruchy. Steve was swept away in a river accident in South Africa and his body has not been found, but he is presumed dead and our grieving has begun. Steve was widely known and admired for his theological leadership in church, community, and at the University of KwaZulu Natal. He leaves behind three children and his wife Marian. As I tried to find words against the cruel silence of our limits, these words made their way out. I share them here.
A single thread in the cloth bag holding our treasures breaks. Our glistening marbles, photographs of younger smiles, the address book, the journal of our inward thoughts, slip through the widening tear. We fall with them, wondering if loving hands will catch us.
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William J. Everett
In my teaching career I authored eight books and numerous articles in social ethics and religion. After over thirty years of academic work — in Germany, India, and South Africa as well as in the United States — I wanted to turn my hand to a poetically written novel to probe the issues of ecological and human reconciliation.
When I am not writing, I create furniture for worship settings. For more about my work, go to www.WisdomsTable.net, where you will also find galleries of artwork by my wife Sylvia, whose ancestors were the original inspiration for Red Clay, Blood River. Click to read my complete bio...
Red Clay Blood River
Red Clay, Blood River is a story told by Earth about two brothers from Germany and an enslaved South African woman whose lives bind together America’s “Trail of Tears” and South Africa’s simultaneous “Great Trek” of 1838. Memories of their journeys through oppression, estrangement and reconciliation reverberate in the lives of three contemporary students brought together by their interests in ecology. Through their often difficult friendship and a surprising discovery they begin to unravel the mystery of their estrangements, struggles, and deep connections to each other and to the earth.
Based on extensive research in the United States, South Africa, and England, this book takes readers through a sweeping saga of love and conflict in the context of emigration, invasion, slavery, and exploitation. Through its stories we are invited to see our fractured human history from within the sensibilities of an earth that seeks the flourishing of all creatures and transcends their deaths within its life.
I welcome you to read Excerpts from Red Clay Blood River.
You can also view some Reader's Responses to the book.
If you are already reading Red Clay, Blood River, check out the Reader's Guide and Glossary of Names.
If you are in a Book Club, go to the Guide for Discussion Groups.
If you want to know more about people who helped me in writing this book check out the People Present at the Creation.
February 23rd, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
Bill,
Thank you for this beautiful poem that was birthed from such sadness. It spoke to my own sadness about the death of a friend’s daughter. Our friend, Amy Mears, co-pastor of Glendale Baptist in Nashville, lost her 8 year old daughter in a freak accident last Wednesday night after the Ash Wednesday service. A deer came through the car window and killed her instantly. Her dad and 3 siblings escaped serious injury.
Life is so very fragile.
Thank you for your reflection.
Mercies,
Nancy