A brief follow on to my last missive.
\n – Marlow<\/p>\n
![\"022718-1LIT\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/022718-1LIT.jpg\")
\nPBR Mark II in Vietnam<\/p>\n
We are all born with stars, but they are as different as we are from one another. For voyagers, they are guides. For many, they are just little twinkling lights in the sky. For the studious, they are to be pondered. For the creative, they serve as inspiration. All stars are silent until we chose to hear our own speak. <\/p>\n
Stars are what we value in life, be they dreams, aspirations, or big ambitions. Sometimes people remain willfully deaf, dumb and blind to their stars. Some die before hearing their song. Others may interfere and try to redirect us from our stars to a path they want us to walk.<\/p>\n
That long-ago day when his PBR rounded the river bend was the first time Mike truly started to hear his own star speak to him. He was not harmed but started on a new path to prosper and have hope and a future.<\/p>\n
Mike came home a decorated war veteran, shocked to be alive. But his life in the Cold War Navy alternated from rise to descent to rise. The Navy in those days tolerated his ups and downs. Knowledge and treatment of PTSD’s rage and self destruction were decades away. When he finally started to focus steadily enough on his stars a decade later, his upward success became a constant in his physical and emotional lives. <\/p>\n
The mystery of his post war suffering and the mystery of his survival no longer tortured him.<\/p>\n
Blinded by the river’s glare
\nBoat silently gliding without a care
\nRounding the bend, fell into a snare
\nEach party hoping neither saw the others there <\/p>\n
Blindly staring to starboard over the guns
\nWe could see the souls of these passers by
\nSo many lives
\nSo many pairs of eyes<\/p>\n
A pure wish
\nWe were invisible
\nIf only for a moment
\nA pure wish
\nWe tried to control it <\/p>\n
As the boat passed, illusion started to tear
\nEverybody slowly dropped but continued to stare
\nCause now we had no fear
\nWe believed this would not end in tears<\/p>\n
Blindly staring to starboard over the guns
\nWe could see the souls of these passers by
\nSo many lives
\nSo many pairs of eyes<\/p>\n
A pure wish
\nWe were invisible
\nIf only for a moment
\nA pure wish
\nWe tried to control it<\/p>\n
Those strangers I carry with me
\nI’m still alive; my stars guiding me
\nWhen I’m long gone; they’ll still be with me
\nBut it’s not over
\nThere’re spaces in between
\nThey kept death’s cold far from them and me
\nThis warmness means life’s not over<\/p>\n
Blindly staring to starboard over the guns
\nWe could see the souls of these passers by
\nSo many lives
\nSo many pairs of eyes<\/p>\n
A pure wish
\nWe were invisible
\nIf only for a moment
\nA pure wish
\nWe tried to control it<\/p>\n
Couldnt turn the boat around
\nNeither side laid their weapons down
\nOr let bullets fly across the sky
\nNo soldiers died, just wanted to get home
\nA mini cease-fire was had on the battlefield
\nEnough of us had already been wounded and killed<\/p>\n
Blindly staring to starboard over the guns
\nWe could see the souls of these passers by
\nSo many lives
\nSo many pairs of eyes<\/p>\n
A pure wish
\nWe were invisible
\nIf only for a moment
\nA pure wish
\nWe tried to control it<\/p>\n
![\"022718-2LIT\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/022718-2LIT.jpg\")
\nSailor Star<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2018 From My Isle Seat
\nwww.vicsocotra.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Editor’s Note: this is a continuation of Marlow’s tale about a buddy who lived some extraordinary times in extraordinary places- and paid a price. It is interesting to see what currency was used. Some, like you guys, gave something. There is always something around the next bend in the river. Others gave it all. Let’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17417"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17421,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17417\/revisions\/17421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}