The Blessing, a 2008 entry in the National Sculpture Society 75th Annual Awards Exhibition, was inspired by a Rainer Maria Rilke poem from Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, 1996.
“It feels as though I make my way through massive rock like a vein of ore alone, encased I am so deep inside it I can’t see the path or any distance: everything is close and everything closing in on me has turned to stone. Since I don’t know enough about pain, this terrible darknes makes me small. If it’s you, though--- press down hard on me, break in that I may know the weight of your hand, and you, the fullness of my cry.”