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

The Two Most Noble

The Two Most Noble

I awoke from a dream in darkness at 4:42 am with two companions so near I could hear their breathing, and feel their warmth press in upon me. I remember two houses in which I had lived a considerable portion of my life. I consider two lives, one lived, one living, and two lives lived, now reminiscing. I feel the air of autumn evening drawing in, exhaling, feeling a presence I can only describe as freedom, and liberation. That is how I might finally describe God in context. With empty drawers full of memories I watched one love walk away in tears, another approach with open arms, and a smile from ear to ear. I know desire so strong it makes me ache inside, yet another lifts me up like no earthly source can do. 

And so I consider the two most noble creatures on earth God has given man. Like my Mother the horse reminds me of steadfastness, strength, endurance, and perseverance to the end. Brave in battle, faithful in, and beyond the storms of life.

Like my Father the dog is ever the finest companion there is. With a big bold heart within, a wary eye for danger, and a loyalty beyond human comprehension. A dog will only leave you in death, but will always leave a tear of remembrance in your mind's eye.

And so I leave you all who are struggling with one thing or another a small inkling of clarity through this fog of life. Consider all you have been through, the good, and bad. Be thrilled you have endured like the horse. Take time to stand in a pasture of tall grass, and graze till your hearts content. Run through the woods like a hound on the scent knowing your Master waits patiently while you journey this life. And be so joyfully amazed that you are living a life so bold as the two most noble beasts!

D.A. Wittler 11/26/20,,,,.