You chose the perfect,: You chose the perfect, Heaven-picked verses to accompany your life-altering poem. As I read this illuminating reflection on past events that from a murky human perspective seem tragic, but were, from a broader viewpoint, vital threads in the glorious tapestry that is your life, those verses came alive in my spirit.
But here's the kicker: you eventually found a way to combine both astronomy and poetry as interests.
I'm thrilled and inspired by the way you excavated the diamond in the abyss as many enlightened seekers and saints learned to do throughout the ages. But as magnificent as your radiant gift of poetry (your passion for it, acumen for it, talent for it) is, the most enduring and crucial gift was the liberation from resentment.
If you feel that your mortal path is nearing its end, certainly you want to travel light and carry only the things that can fit through the infinite door, such as forgiveness and compassion. But even if the end is a hundred years away (and I'm talking to myself here as well) why waste a minute shambling under the weight of soul-devouring bitterness?
Thank you immensely for reading my comment with such insight and for acknowledging it in your notes.
Keep lifting us Starward with your pen!
With the utmost respect to: With the utmost respect to you, I am sorry for what is, apparently, a lack of clarity on my part. I was speaking only of Russia, of Russians (who happened to be Bolsheviks) turning on their own people, their own flesh and blood, and those with whom they had formerly worshipped according to the customs of the Orthodox Church. I was not speaking comparitively of any other nation except Russia. I apologize. Out of respect, also, for LittleLennonGurl, to whose poem this comment section belongs, I will withdraw at this point; however, if you wish to discuss further, you can send me a PM. Or not.
Did USA express any remorse for the damage in Libya... : Did USA express any remorse for the damage in Iraq after their soldiers killed millions of Iraquis just for one man( Saddam Hussein)? Also they(USA Bush& Tony Blair) accused Saddam of having mass destruction weaponry in Iraq, which he did not have. In Libya, they provided an arsenal to rebels for killing Gadafi and still even today Libya is struggling because of USA - the same in Iraq. Is that not evil? Even worse. There's others to mention but i stop here. USA is worse. We know. But should they cross the line and anger Putin, nuclear weapons will be used. We know.
I disagree with the statement: I disagree with the statement that Russia is not evil. To the best of my knowledge, Russia in still evil (metaphysically and theologically) because it has never (to the best of my knowledge) officially and nationally expressed remorse for the mass murders and martyrdoms it caused to both the hierarchy and the ordinary believers iof the Orthodox Church and its Faith, and to the family (both immediate and extended) of the Czar. To my mind, Lenin was demonically driven to exact from the Romnovs his vengeance for the judicial execution of his older brother: I believe that his embrace of Marxism, from its beginning, was a practical connivance with which he could enlist the Party, and those who most benefitted (politically and economically) from the Revolution, to assist him in his unspoken desire to exact revence from the Romanov. I do not suggest that the Czar should be entirely exonerated from his own political incompetence: but what wrong had adolescent Alexei committed upon the Russian people that he, as well as his sisters (and even his dog) should be murdered by Bolshevik thugs? And then the damage done to the properties and facilities of the Orthodox Church: turning Cathedrals into public lavatories; seizing their bells and melting them down for the metal to be used for statues of Lenin placed on major streeet corners and sites of government administration; and the directed and deliberately blasphemous destruction wreaked, even, upon icons and communion vessels. Whether we like to admit or not, no matter how much Marx, Engels, Lenin and Bolshevik philosophers express denial, there is a metaphysical (and, for Christians, a theological and eschatological) dimension to human existence---life---that Lenin and his cronies and thugs violated. Even your own comment admits this, implicitly, by your assertion that "Russoa is not evil." As long as no national remorse has been expressed, no penance performed; as long as that mummified stiff is on display in Red Square in that hideous structure known as "Lenin's Tomb"; as long as Russia, as a political entity, as raised up Orthodox chapels at the sites of the Romanox murders or body-disposal trenches . . . Russia's every action will be tainted with some degree of evil, tacitly present if not deliberately chosen and maintained.
No, world war three because of USA not Russia.: When i see Bush, i see a man who destroyed Iraq, when i see Obama, i see a man who destroyed Libya. Today, USA is indirectly fighting Russia through Ukraine; they could not do it directly, they had to form Nato to do it. Will USA step foot on Russian soil as if Libya or Iraq? No. They are not brave. Ok, maybe they will but thats where WW3 will start*. Russia is not evil, it's defending itself from foreign intervention, imperialism etc. If Ukraine was not close to Russia, it would've allowed them to do "as they wish".
Thank you for commenting. : Thank you for commenting. And I agree with you totally.
All my life, I have always been at least a day late and a dollar short, metaphorically speaking, and it has taken me about fifty-seven years to forgive my parents for beginning the process by which they attempted to block my two overwhelming interests. And though my parents were solidly sensible people in most things, their fear of obsession and that I would become like Leslie (who lived down the street), implanted in their minds by neighbor Doris, caused them to act and think irrationally about my interests. (For example, for my ninth birthday, they purchased a small but very efficient telescope and had it mounted on a surveyor's tripod so that I could sit while looking into it. Then I was not permitted to use it during the summer after 9pm, because their schedule required me to be in bed and ready to sleep by 9pm, even on weekends.)
But God brought a wondrous experience out of this for me.
Thanks again for the comment.
As with that famed allusion: As with that famed allusion to whatever was meant for evil or in-evil has worked out for good in God's hands when we are so disposed to allow the Avenger to avenge, revenge being solely His.
Thank you so much for the: Thank you so much for the comment, and for understanding and validating what I was attempting to say. And I appreciate your prayers. Although the catheter has totally failed, I have found some measure of relief from the initial pain such a failure causes, and the urologist was able to see me at 2:15 tomorrow on an emergency basis.
You reminded me of a Scripture of which I should be far more cognizant at my age, and which I have, in my usual careless way, neglected: Luke 7:47, in which Jesus equated forgiveness and how much we have loved, exactly as you said in your comment. I must keep this verse in the forefront of my mind as I continue to approach my departure time.
You have helped me more today than you might have anticipated when you posted the comment, and I appreciate the kindness.
"dawn at midnight" A vividly: "dawn at midnight" A vividly precise description of that hyper-aware, creative state we thrive on. Although I don't have the time to comment on all your elegant masterworks, I still enjoy your poetry when I get the chance to stop by. You're the real deal. Keep writing!
I hope and pray that you have: I hope and pray that you have found some relief from your physical anguish. My prayers go out to you in abundance and often. But in spite of your discomfort, you managed to be the cavalry over the hill by sharing your truly remarkable experience. It was a blessing on three levels:
First, there's no problem too large or too small that the One Who Watches Sparrows won't help us with because we are loved unconditionally and immeasurably.
Second, this seems like Matthew's way of saying: "I appreciate the remembrance, but hey, no need for sorrow. I'm doing great!" There are plenty of NDEs that prove that God is absolute, inexpressable love, and this extends to those who many religious people, in their ignorance, condemn because of their sexual orientation. In The Light, there's only one burning question: how much did we love?
Third, it's a miracle! We can all use a miracle in our life now and then, but the timing of your own personal sign and wonder was particularly intriguing.
I was lifted to a much higher place today by your thrilling testimony. Much needed refreshment! Thank you!
Thank you for your comment,: Thank you for your comment, and yes you are absolutely right about the "standards." As for the painting, I know nothing about art, but i know I was mighty impressed by it.
First, I must apologize for: First, I must apologize for not keeping up with your poems. Personal issues keep me behind right now, so please forgive me.
Next, let me say how very, very impressive this poem is. I love meta-poetry, and this is definitely a meta-poem. And the tone of your words is conversational, but the reader knows that this is definitely a poem, a superior poem, and not some prose scribble by a wannabe.
I applaud your accomplishment in this poem.
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