Whistling, rustling, crackling sounds, frost-hardened snow of the heaven: Eskimos believe torches guide spirits journeying to the next life. Dark, far away, I see the sky open. A haze settles into a glow, gradually widening, striping the earth. Twisting contortions of mysterious light surround me. Fissures of red, white, gold, shine yellow, like glowing irons [...]
Northern Torches
by Ruth Harris Swaner
Tender Hands
by Ruth Harris Swaner
THE EMERGENCY CALLÂ shattered my peaceful world. An eight-inch rod, the size of a pencil, had dislodged from a piece of machinery with eighty pounds of pressure behind it. The rod penetrated the corner of my husband’s left eye, piercing his brain. Relatives were notified, arriving late that evening. We prayed together during the eight-hour surgery [...]