I open up today

And stretch my arms out

To the universe

I embrace all that I know

And all that I see

With opening heart

I care not

For your billboards

Or your war games

I know now

That these days

Will be washed away in time

And the wheels of life

Will turn away from these times

Like the earth turns away from the sun

Darkness will come

But the day will return

To a new earth

Somewhere in the eternity of space...

Where the chances for perfection

Are unending

Within the grace and compassion

That move the universe

Jim Bush is a 67 year old, Vietnam-era veteran, currently living in Texas. He was raised in a military family. His father received the Silver Star for directing troops while under air attack at Clark Field in the Phillipines, survived the Bataan Death March, and spent three and a half years in a Japanese POW camp. He also received the Purple Heart for wounds received while a  POW. Jim served as an army photographer in Okinawa and Korea. In 1987 he traveled to the war zones of Nicaragua with a veteran's group dedicated to stopping the Contra War.