Sweet Land

Sometimes the simplest stories grab your heart and change you a little. I had that experience tonight watching an independent film. The plot was simple: An American farmer in the early 20th century gets a mail order bride. She turns out to be German, and no one will marry them because of it (they think she is a spy). So the two strangers are ostracized and have to bring in the harvest alone. They show kindness where none has been extended to them. They fall in love and grow old together in the same house, on the same land. There was no climax, no big mystery, no great tragedy. The simplest of stories. As I sit here writing about it, tears come to my eyes and bit of pain in my heart.

"A think of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing."

by John Keats