"You gotta have that heat
to get that sweet'"
My Father said this, in his colloquial Vermont accent
when he spoke about his gardening

Looking up and appreciating the Sun
wiping his brow with a red and white bandana
that it kept in his denim bib overalls pocket

He was simple in the way that he lived
but not simple in the way that he thought about life.

I especially loved  the tomatoes....
I haven't tasted a tomato like that since
it tasted just like the Sunshine

He'd worked our dreams,
gone 10 hours
and then drive an hour
to get there and back

We raise all our own meat
all our own vegetables
and we lived off the grid
we had lanterns for our light
though they weren't very bright I think it taught me a lot our little simplistic life
and I wouldn't trade the tastes
Of my bittersweet and long
loving memories for anything

He pointed out that this is true with love...
with raising our children
the sun makes everything grow
there is no wonder why it has been worshipped

It has destroyed man
and it has saved man

In a flood we are drowning
in a desert we are dying
We need just the right amount of sun for the balance in our lives

They say we cannot appreciate the sun without the rain
And that means learning from our pain
That is all right with me because I am literally...
Blinded by the Light

Cherie Nolan © 2016