MANY MANY MANY THANKS go out to Sharon Frame Gay for this incredible review!

Author Jim Bates’ son, Seth, went missing in January, 2026. Thus began a search that lasted several months to find him. In this stunningly beautiful book of poetry, Jim exposes his heart, his hopes, and his demons as he journeys through the darkest time of his life. This book is in chronological order, from the moment Seth disappeared in a mountain town, through the emotional roller coaster ride of disbelief, horror, and finally, finding peace in the simple gifts life still offers.

There is nothing worse than the loss of one’s child, and Jim takes the reader to the depths of despair, then back up, as he casts sunlight on slivers of hope – the type of hope that reverberates through a man’s soul when his heart is no longer beating inside his own chest, but is riding through the mountains and valleys of Montana, seeking answers.

Finding the answer holds no solace, but Jim Bates turns toward a benefactor he has known and loved all his life. Nature. He watches the clouds and recognizes eternity in the vastness of a summer sky, and is calmed by the knowledge that life returns, season after season, perhaps in a different form, but beneath the humming of the earth are always the flickers of renewal.

You will be touched beyond measure when you join Jim on this, the most personal, intimate, and vulnerable journey a man can take. A journey that will wear you to your bones, then feed you from the bounty of Mother Nature until you know everything will somehow be all right.

My hope for you, the reader, is that when you close the final page, you, too, will experience a re-birth, and the satisfaction that you witnessed a father’s transformation from devastation to a spiritual acceptance, as he gently brought you along with him.