Look to the sky
Look to the stars
They can’t take us over
They can’t take what’s ours.
The work of our hands,
We can always redo.
The things in our minds
We pass down to you.
The will to the striving
They never will break.
The hope in our labors
They never can take.
The fire that burns
In every free soul
Is something they never
Can see nor control.
They think in our spirits
We are like them,
Yet we know the truth:
We are still men.
No machine to dance
To a street grinder’s tune.
No dog to lie lazy,
Then howl at the moon.
We look to the sky
And reach to the stars,
And they can’t understand
What makes the sky ours.
This song came to me in a black time, when I seemed to be the only one who was not convinced the world was about to explode one way or another. I do get accused of being optimistic. And with all the crazy that’s going on int he country, maybe folk are right when they say it. Or maybe it’s just the peace that passes understanding. Or maybe I’m just the sort to panic when everything’s done and over with. Could be any or all of the above, but it still resonates today the way it did when I wrote it back on October 14, 2016 an posted it to a comment in Sarah Hoyt’s blog. The trappings of the world are ephemeral. Things that have been made can be destroyed. Things that have been destroyed can be made again and sometimes the new is better than the old. Sometimes the old is better than the new, at least temporarily. Yet such a state seldom laughs. We have surpassed Rome as Rome surpassed what came before, and our descendants shall some day surpass us, even if we are destroyed. The physical passes away. Yet it is the spirit that endures. It is the spirit that pushes us to grow and to build, and that spirit cannot be destroyed, no matter how bleak the future may seem.
I don’t have much to say today, but somehow I think there are some that need to see this. Look to the sky, both the Heavens and the Stars. Take hope.
“Look Up,” copyright © 2018 Heather Strickler
Image at the top of the post Copyright © pixabay user skeeze, used under Pixabay free for commercial licence, no attribution required.
There is a relatively local con coming up. I’m planning to go, came by to ask if y’all were, and the site seems to have changed since I last checked? I remember a contact form?
I’ve put in an email I checked, and have clicked the little ticky boxes.
Sadly we’re not going to make Sooner con this year. It’s been a year of everything breaking. I hadn’t realized you were local…
I’ll also look into re-adding the contact form. You’re right there used to be one but it seems to have gotten eaten in an update.
I’m sorry I won’t be seeing you all this year.
Location not being obvious is unsurprising. I try never to say anything specific in public about where I am or may be.
I figure that the detective work is doable, but a bit of caution puts it beyond all but the craziest.
I actually try to follow the practice of not saying anything anywhere that I’m not willing to admit to any one. More tactfully, I don’t always tell people how strongly I disagree with them right off the bat. I try to maintain enough plausible deniability that they don’t automatically learn things they are happier not hearing. It’s why I don’t facebook, and have policies for everything else I do on blogs and social media.