We, in our pedestrian existence
are too seldom awed by the vastness
of the universe, by the incredible
velocities, and yet the connectivity
of gravity, the soul inspiring light,
the breathtaking darkness of the
inbetweens.

We fail to see the miracles all
around, and more than just life,
but the mysteries of our life;
of the who we are, with thoughts,
words, and ability to love as we
overcome the challenges of the
inbetweens.

We should make room each day
for aweness, for our breath
to be taken, for our connections,
for our ideas and souls to soar,
and realization that we are
special because we thrive in the
inbetweens.

The leaves don’t need to know
of the changing season when
they are sprouts of green.
The squirrels may know of
treasured bountiful harvest
they store away for leaner times.
As we may wisely save for
that rainy day when a friendly
roof may fail to provide shelter.

But we, as they, need not know of all
which is hidden, and all which may
come in the turbulence of the future.
For then we will fail the present,
failing to enjoy the bountiful harvest,
and the beauty of the nature of things.
So, let us then rejoice in life and
not worry of what is kept from us.
For we were never meant to know
everything, as we appreciate both
what is here and what is hidden.

Years ago, I read a great novel by Mark Sullivan, called Beneath a Scarlet Sky.   One of the best I’ve ever read, I highly recommend it.  I wrote about it almost exactly seven years ago: https://mikevargamusings.com/2017/10/09/beneath-a-scarlet-sky-an-incredible-story-of-a-hero-and-tragic-love-loss/ 

Since then,  I haven’t read anything further from this author, because I naively thought nothing could improve upon this tale coming out of World War II.  A hero with an incredible story of survival, and tragic love loss.  Such a monumental experience.

But I was looking for something new to read this last month and realized he had another WW2 survival true-story published, The Last Green Valley,  and I decided to give it a go.   Wow, what another masterpiece in storytelling by Mr. Sullivan!  A story of extraordinary adversity.  A real-life family, caught between the prevailing evil of Stalin, and Hitler.  A story of trial, of suffering, grit, and yet the story of a dream of a future, of a Last Green Valley… Achievable by determination, by chance, or as expressed in the writing, a faith and trust in God.  A faith which is constantly tested. Sometimes this is expressed as the notion of a power in the universe for which we can be one.  It makes one believe there is a way with faith and determination and positive outlook to survive in the most evil and trying of times.  Finding a path toward a better future.  Along the way, the author contrasts between those who embody this faith, may have lost it but find it again, as well as determination and persistence, from those who seek their own temporary advantage.

I will not retell the story here, but I leave you with my impression, and to suggest if you liked Beneath a Scarlet Sky, then give The Last Green Valley a read.

Faith

Is as spherical thing
held and felt with an infinity
of possible sides, it will
roll with you or away from you,
it will challenge you to keep up,
it will seem elusive even when
you need it most, and yet it keeps
rolling.

It is tested, as your connection
and oneness with everything
and each other is tested, and
in such times it may grow or
shrink as you see the future
and your participation in it
obscured, but it keeps
rolling.

It will be your companion
if you allow it, rolling before
you, opening new doors, if you
treat it with innocence and wonder.
If you see it in the smallest
things, it will be there for the
biggest things in time, still
rolling.

I wonder if I sit here quiet
enough, would I hear the Earth
moving through space, would
I hear it rotating on its axis?
Would I experience a universe
in motion pushing and pulling me
millions of miles every hour from
where I imagine I sit motionless
and my soul seems quiet?

And what could I learn of this
universe-of-motion, which hides
itself in relative stillness?  A brilliant
disguise of perception-bending
astronomic, as well as, atomic motion
of probabilities … the known and
and unknowable experienced in this
quiet-moment of passage … as I realize
my quiet soul is also a disguise.

The last few days were like a trip
down that famous memory lane,
which is oft-lined with blossoming
trees, and bubbling brooks, and
it seems so straight, as life flows
on toward a future it must then
become, and yet as I look back
it was only straight in moments
blossoming and bubbling along
in segments, which would make
the sharpest of turns, surprising
such that no psychic medium
might have imagined, let alone
a young man becoming this
old man… but I wouldn’t have
exchange these twists and
turns and the moments along
the way for any other, for it
brings me here today with
all these memories and the
love of life to share.

I wish to write about bunny rabbits
and squirrels saving for winter and fall
colors coming soon with a chill in the air.
I wish to write about our children’s
children returning to school, and the
value of education, and growth.
I wish to write about anything but the
real and present danger to our world.

Not just to our nation, but danger to
the world if through election our nation
becomes an autocracy, run by a corrupt
criminal without regard for the constitution.
With no regard for the rulings of our courts,
with no regard for the peaceful transfer
of power, and no regard for our allies
in NATO or beyond.

I wish to write about anything other than
the danger we face if we lose our
democracy in November.  If we choose
a president seeking revenge without
guard rails, without regard for anyone
except himself, we are courting a very
dangerous future.

I wish to make others understand, that
our children’s children freedom and
ability to vote in their own interests
in the future are at risk this fall … But,
what can these mere words do
to undo the hardened hearts
of those blinded to the danger?

I wish to write something that will matter.

It’s nearly noon on a quiet Sunday
and I haven’t yet had my usual say
because it is on these type of days
when my muddled mind is in a haze,
when the word lazy comes to mind
and pithy thoughts are hard to find
I let empty cloud thoughts form
as the failed fleeting quiet morn
begins to fade into a sunny noon
and if I keep this going, surely soon
there’ll be a thought or two to arise
beyond the missing of today’s sunrise
and all the colors of the early morning
when a day in infancy is still forming,
and my best thoughts are known to arrive
because I feel everything and I’m more alive
when It’s early morn, and not nearly noon
no matter how I slow it down, it arrives soon,
when it’s too late for a wise thought or two
and so with these rhymes I’ll entertain you,
and you don’t have to think hard or very much
about what it means, as I’m just staying in touch….

and  wishing you a lovely Sunday!

We should live life as optimists
knowing the sun will rise again in the morning
for if it didn’t, who will ever care?
So rise, knowing you are blessed
with life which brings us our tomorrow’s
shepherded by our Angel of Today in
her enveloping wings into a future
unknowable, unseeable and possibly even
unfathomable…

Everyone believes they have a destiny
as if faith of the future is enough, when
it is what we work for which matters and
shapes our future, it is a matter of
life preparations, of life-entangling
experiences, and a dollop of random which
shape our destiny, and all we must do
is live as an optimist would, preparing
for our tomorrows, trusting our Angel of Today…

and rise up and accept the gift of tomorrow!

Sometimes unrelated things inform
on the other, creating a symbiosis of value
more than the remora knowing
its usefulness to the great white
rather, like a flower cultivated for
its beauty, could only exist for the
expressions of love we value to share,
to achieve a symbiosis of hearts,
and so beauty begets beauty, and
heart’s experience of joy ensures
the future of both, as life is given
in for love, and love gives life to
the flowering future, and we
see in the art of words, and valued
visual experience we are informed
of beauty, and thus the future of life,
and with these symbols, with beauty,
we can grow and evolve to a more
beautifully cultivated humanity.

So give a flower to someone today!

Every birth is a miracle, for we are
all here against all odds.
A billion chances must align for
our identity to be written in the stars.
A million more must align for a last
gasp of science in conception of beauty.
A thousand more give your mother the
strength to bring life to you, despite all odds.

And yet here you are!  A beautiful miracle
in which there is proof that love prevails,
that God wishes for you to have your
chance to change the world for the better
against all odds!

Happy Birthday Alayah – 27 July 2024!
Congratulations Julie and Abe!