Paradox defines the human condition. We yearn for that which is good, beautiful, true. We're confronted by that which is bad, ugly, false. Still it beckons, our heart's desire, urging us to do the impossible, to resolve the paradox, to find the reality hidden beneath appearance: to swim our river of stone. Written over a span of five decades, the uplifting poetry in "Swimming the River of Stone" represents one woman's spiritual journey to find the 'some-thing more' which holds out the promise of fulfillment and belonging. Some call it wholeness, some call it love, some call it God. Elizabeth Ayres has called it by all these names and more, over a lifetime's journey of spiritual growth. Anyone who feels drawn into re-lationship with a sacred mystery that reveals itself as the au-thentic self will find in her inspirational poetry a companionable guide in the quest for the "one, necessary thing." As the spiritual teacher Richard Rohr says, "A mystery is not something that is unknowable. It's something that is infinitely knowable." Which means infinity is within our grasp, if only our grasp be infinite. "The sheer grace and power of the language amazes me." (Annie Dillard, author of "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.") "Ayres is an artist of the human spirit." (Franciscan theologian Ilia Delio, OSF, author of "The Unbearable Wholeness of Being.") "Elizabeth Ayres is Claude Monet with words." (Paula Cohen, author of "Gramercy Park.")"