Happy Place

A Work, months in the making.

Happy Place

I watched a sunset

From our happy place

After the rain came

And settled on fields of green.

Difficult days passed

Happier years ahead

Glowed on distant horizon

Summer

Gone

Fall

Symbolic end

Winter comes

I hang hope on Spring

Like lights on an evergreen

Twinkling

In memories before me.

Childhood

In a fogged filled haze

Behind in red reflection

Glances in a rear view mirror

Days of play long over

Endless labor confronts me 

From awakened slumber

Little use of sleep

Mind full of wonder

Prayer reminds me

 "Remain calm"

To handle change better

My body aches

Heart beats stronger

Mission focused

On a path made clearer

It does not include me

Rather

A destination

Final resting place

Wrapped in saving grace

Worn feet failing

Carried home

In a loving Father's embrace

A Savior's face

Forgiving

Forward

Onward toward morning

To that happy sunny place

Once more.

D.A. Wittler 12/05/21

Friday 4:30 a.m..

So, it's 4:30 in the morning. I can't sleep, the dogs think it's time to get up. The rain begins tapping on the roof outside. Another day has begun even though the sun has yet to rise. Yes, I'm tired, wore out, and fighting off the urge not to go to work this morning. I've given my 110% for the week, but I know it is not enough. I pray daily, the Lord listens, but only answers in his own mysterious ways. Even though I believe with all my heart, and soul, it is not enough, and I struggle to think of stepping foot back into that stifling space called church where I sat in silence crying out for help. I have given, and recieved many times over, yet the world continues to get worse, and worse, but there is hope in love, and kindness if we hold steadfast to the notion we can all still make a difference. If you find solace in a place of worship, God bless you. If you find hope in continuing the breakneck pace of work, work, work, God love you. But if you are like me, you just want to get off this crazy Merry go round, and find a little peace, and happiness without all the hatred, mandates, betrayal, and tyranny unfolding in front of your eyes. God help us because he has obviously left it up to us to make the right choices if the world is ever going to  see paradise ever again.

Good day, and good luck; as if luck exists at all any more.

Signed,

A tired aging man

D.A. Wittler 10/8/21

The Unwinding

Maybe I think too much.

Maybe I'm too sentimental, or emotional.

Perhaps it's time to simply fade into the background.

The games people play,

Especially when the grass is seemingly greener on the neighbor's back lawn

When in reality their own lives are simply not satisfying.

But we still have choices about our attitudes, and our beliefs.

Though it gets more difficult to go into work each day knowing that in spite of all the effort, it means nothing; only numbers add up, not the toll on human lives.

The world turns in such a subtle way

We don't even notice.

We mark time by the rising, and setting of the sun.

A clock ticks away the hours.

We pull up the chains each week to hear the chiming of the towers,

The waning moments of our unwinding spring.

Yes, perhaps I am right

And they say "ignorance is bliss."

Well, I wonder.

Good day!

D.A. Wittler 10/10/21

One Day at a Time

One Day At A Time

They say:

"Don't look back"

What has passed is past

Old wounds become scars

But noone sees the hurt inside

Like the day you went away Dad

I held your hand Mom

It didn't seem real

I didn't know how to feel

But I remember…

One Day At A time Dad

Until we meet again Mom

Memories are all we have

Until the end.

A song bird sings

It brings the mornings in

Every, every, every day

Holding you near to me

Never thought I'd feel this way again

All my life has led to now

The only thing we have…

One Day at a time Dad

Until we meet again Mom

When you went away Dad

I held your hand Mom

It didn't seem real

I didn't know how to feel

But I remember…

Memories are all we have

Until the end.

Oh every, every, every day

Holding you near to me

I learned how to feel again

Through a songbird's song…

One Day at a time Dad

Until we meet again Mom

It didn't seem real

I didn't know how to feel

Memories, mysteries

Folding time into one

What has passed is past

Old wounds become scars

And you are home Dad

Into the sunset Mom

I long to hear that songbird again

Memories are all we have

Until the end of time

Ohhh time

One Day at a time.

D.A. Wittler 6/9/21

From The Vine

Still a few cherry tomatoes left on the vine. I wonder this morning when the last one will be picked for the season. This has been a year of rough roads, and answered prayers. We do not always get to choose the best of the crop, yet we keep watering, and pruning until Autumn takes us into a season of falling leaves, and bountiful harvests. Death, and dying seem to be a fate we want to run from, but yet no matter how we try we still must ripen for the harvest of our souls to heaven. "Let not your hearts be troubled says the Lord, for I am with you always." Sounds like a promising reassurance we can hold steady through faith; though men may offer, their words often fail in vain. 

I look out this morning, and I gather my thoughts like tiny fruit on outstretched branches. I see the morning dew like droplets of hope upon a new day dawning! 

Amen

God bless you all on this Sunday morning!

The Passing of Time and the Nickel Nine

Thoughts on a Saturday morning. The Passing of time, and the Nickle Nine:

 Well, I guess it is the last year of my middle years. The "Nickle Nine" does not feel much different than any other year with a few exceptions. I survived Covid this year which means I still have a little "Bad Ass" in me! We made it through a cancer scare with Lisa this year as well. Now is the time to make sure it does not come back; that is for sure!

Still in love with my best friend, confidant, counselor, and lover means everything. She knows when to jump my case, straighten me out when the going gets rough, and knows when to leave me be to get my attitude back on track. 

There is nothing like having a deck with a view to watch a blazing sunset, or a glowing moon on the rise while two furry friends play out in the yard. 

And what have I learned thus far? 

-Living simply is the key to contentment. 

- Doing your best every day does not always bring the ultimate outcome, or produce a feeling of satisfaction, but you still have to drive on in spite of the machine!

- Friends, family, and good times come, and go, but faith never leaves you; it is a daily choice you must make all on your own.

- Words are just words until they have meaning. You have every right to take them the right way, or the wrong way. Never read into things spoken in haste, or anger. 

- Self expression in whatever form is your connection to a higher power. Sing, dance, create, care, and always give thanks for the opportunity to grow deeper in your understanding of what it means to be a human being.

- Compassion is a rare, and beautiful thing. Make it a mission to spread the word by your example so that others may believe, and follow.

I could go on, but I will leave you with a bit of advice from Ralph Waldo Emerson of whom I share this birthing day:

 "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

Love, and best wishes to all!

Good day!

If only Time

I take from Albert Einstein who wrote:

People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

In other words;

Time: A stubbornly persistent illusion.

"If Only We Could Be Strangers Again."

(From the film: Collateral Beauty)

When we were lonely

Longing for love

Time passed slowly

And death found reality

We saw little opportunity

Like sand 

Sifting in an hourglass

Of illusion.

Then we met

When we were strangers

Never again

And the world turned quickly

Death merely sand 

In an empty hourglass 

of illusion.

If only we could be strangers again

Feeling warmth, and a tremble

As two hearts learning to love once more

While time passed so quickly

Death merely sand

In empty hourglass

Of illusion.

But today is a new day

A gift that time provides

Love abides 

In collateral beauty

As death recedes

Like sand

Sifting through an hourglass

Of illusion.

D.A. Wittler 6/3/21

The Siege

A Few Thoughts: The Siege.

Perhaps it is time to come out again.

The gates were locked. The drawbridge chains wound. To the ramparts archers gathered, and knights rallied for the siege ahead.

That's my analogy for the fight against the covid virus. It creeps in unannounced like a Trojan horse. It masks itself as innocently as the common cold, and then jumps you like a thief in the night. 

The Siege begins, and all your energy is somehow drawn out of you. The fires are lit, and your lungs begin to fail. It is all you can do to focus on one breath at a time through your nose, and out through your mouth. In... out.... In... out. 

With great care nurses, and doctors rush in. They are the reinforcements who sure up the castle walls, and plan a counter attack. In their hands you trust, but it takes the fighter in you to help them with their task. 

And so they gather tools of siege warfare. Boiling oil in vials of blood. Gauntlets of steroids, and probing the enemy outside to find the weakest point to counter the blow within.

You hope you have enough reserves to outlast the long haul. Each day you fight, pray, and survive; that's all you can do as hour upon hour passes.

And finally the enemy weakens. Your body gains the advantage, and you have the virus on the run. Fires are extinguished, towers toppled; time to heal wounds of war. Rebuilding weakend walls takes time, but you can claim victory for today, and tomorrow is another day. I cannot say why some survive while others answer the final call, all I know is that there is no such thing as luck as long as you believe, pray, and are reassured that an army is behind you all the way!  

God bless you all.

D.A. Wittler 4/25/21

Reflections From A Hospital Bed

A few thoughts: Reflections from a hospital bed.

Moved To Mercy

As I lay here struggling

Just to breath

Nurses attending my every need

Doctors providing their opinions

I stare out the window

Wondering in isolation

"When will it end?"

While an insidious foe

Rages through my body

Like a wildfire out of control.

I have compared thee

To a siege from dark ages

When knights clashed

Protecting their reputations

But battle was not their only weapon

And only as a last resort

As they pledged to help the hopeless

The hungry, and oppressed

And so I call upon you

Oh noble knight within

To prepare for battle

As this foe rages on

And I scarce 

Can take another breath.

Oh Lord

Almighty Father

By whose benevolence I beckon

Not only for myself

But for all who suffer

From whatever cause

Physical, emotional or situational

Be comforted by your compassion

And through the saving grace

Of your son Jesus

Be forgiven of sin

Lifted up by your Holy Spirit

Brought to healing, peace of mind

And restful sanctuary.

May all who bring evil

Oppression, and suffering

Into this world

Upon the innocent

Be moved to mercy

So that healing can begin.

Amen

D.A. Wittler 5/16/21

A Work In Progress

I wonder 

if that poetic road less traveled 

is still there before me 

as I stand at a crossroad once again

Appearing 

as a festering meat sack

of human emotional baggage.

My past behind me

No future ahead

Just today

And all that it brings to table.

Regrets emerge

submerge themselves

In "If only" 

Then prayer comes forth

And silence listens.

A deafening roar

In a sanctuary of dim belief

Where marble walls, and staues stare

Into an abys of nothingness

Where candles glare

 from red, and blue stained vases

And I whisper into darkest spaces

"Where is God if faith is endless?"

When forced to fight

A man fights

But he always has the option

To turn the other cheek.

When forced to follow

A person follows

But has the choice

To take another path.

I may choose to fight

And lose

I may follow

And lose myself, and my convictions

But I will never be a sycophant to philosophy

Someone else's policy, or the idea that I must always just suck it up, and carry on because that's what human drones do to survive in a world not of their own making.

D.A. Wittler

2/09/21

Tennyson Transcends Time

A Few Thoughts: Tennyson Transcends Time.

 Through his epic poem, Ulysses, Alfred Lord Tennyson speaks to me in these troubled times. For the pacifists among us, no harm be done, but for the patriots who writhe at this current chain of events in our nations history; take heart!

God bless!

Come, my friends,

’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.

Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds

To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths

Of all the western stars, until I die.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:

It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Prosperity, Poverty, and Providence

A few thoughts: Prosperity, Poverty, and Providence.

I felt the steel cold breeze upon my cheek this morning as I left work. It had been a long night, and I was longing for my warm safe bed waiting at home. Anxiety quietly crept into my thoughts as I took to the icy roadway, and the 45 minute drive ahead. I turned on the radio to distract the toxic mixture of hope, and dread playing out scenarios in my head, but I knew the answer would be: "Just deal with it, and move on kid." Lord knows I will try, but it is hard not to remember the past, the images, and the lessons it has taught me.

I grew up quite fortunate in a land of limitless possibilities; two hard working parents, and a household full of kids where grandma, and grandpa lived just up the street. I was a crossing guard in sixth grade. We put up the flag every morning, and took it down before dark. I learned to tie knots, respect myself, God others, and the rule of law as a Boy Scout. Indeed, I lived in a land of the free, and home of the brave. 

I served overseas, and saw the prosperity of a free Europe I knew had been stained with the blood of my brothers a generation or two before me. I remember the smell of rot, and decay in a small Honduran village where poverty reigned over a populace stricken with little opportunity, and an uncertain future.

Now, as I recall a distant frigid winter between battlefields long before my time, I hear an echoing belief in divine providence being recited in a humble prayer offered up to heaven. A disciplined soldier kneels before his maker pleading for an answer to spare a ravaged army from despair.

Today, I saw a patriot take leave, and fly off to warmer shores to contemplate another course.  My heart went with him into the clouds until my sight of him was diminished, but my vision of hope remains; my dreams of providence sustains. Godspeed Captain, my Captain.

D.A. Wittler 1/20/21

Our Valley Forge

A few thoughts: Our Valley Forge.

If you love history as I do, and even if it is not exactly your cup of tea, read about George Washington, especially about the bleakest days of the Revolutionary War. 

Valley Forge saw the Continental Army encamped for the winter. They were freezing to death, starving, and on the verge of mutiny. The Continental Congress had seemingly forgotten them, and the sacrifices they had made for the cause of independence. 

In the midst of this utter despair, General George Washington ventured out to the woods behind his winter lodgings. He took a knee, and bowed to his higher power to ask for the divine providence he so fervently believed would carry them to victory. He was out of options, and his back was against a wall of desperation.

It is written that the Mother of Jesus came to him in this dire hour. She called him "Son of the Republic" and reassured him that he would lead the way to victory. 

I believe we are presently experiencing our own Valley Forge. A pandemic has kept us hunkered down as a January chill creeps into our bones. We are fighting wars abroad, and our national spirit wanes between extreme political ideology, moral, and ethical decay. Our government has put into question the trust we place upon its shoulders. So, what now?

I find myself bringing these concerns more, and more to a higher power as did George Washington. I hope in the cause of justice, and the healing of all our earthly ills so that we may weather the storm to experience a new Spring, and a brighter future for our Republic.

God bless!

Witt