This Time It Will Be Forever

A Glimpse of Hope

This is A Glimpse of Hope, a weekly column where I try to bring something gentle to your weekend. Today, it’s not just about a song. it’s a reminder that even when everything feels lost, something beautiful can still reach you.

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I WAS COMPLETELY BROKEN THAT DAY.

It was the first year of the war, some days after the American Thanksgiving Day.

The first time in my life when I learned about this beautiful date and celebrated it, because for the first time I had friends from the Unites States to share.

Eight months of invasion. It seemed so long already.

I was not not just tired. Not just sad.

I mean broken like when your thoughts lose track of each other. Everything felt numb.

You’re there physically, but the rest of you has gone somewhere else, and you simply don’t imagine a way to bring yourself back.

Then my friend James sent me an email.

He’s been here since the beginning. One of the first people who ever read this journal. A wonderful friend from a beautiful place in America, so far away from me, but who always seems to reach out when I need some words, some care, something I would never know how to ask for.

That day, what he sent was a song he loves since his younger years. He said it made him think of me.

The song was “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” by Stevie Wonder.

You can play the song below! ▶️

I’ve known Stevie’s voice for years, sure. His voice, his soul, his genius. His spirit.

But I didn't remember to hear this song before. Or maybe I had, but it never landed like it did that day.

It opened with words that felt like they were pulled straight from my own chest.

Shattered dreams, worthless years
Here am I, encased inside a hollow shell
Life began, then was done
Now I stare into a cold and empty well

I didn’t need to explain how I felt. Stevie had already done it.

The many sounds that meet our ears
The sights our eyes behold
Will open up our merging hearts
And feed our empty souls

But he didn’t leave me there. He pulled me forward, without forcing anything. He just kept singing:

I believe when I fall in love with you it will be forever

I believe when I fall in love this time it will be forever

This song isn’t just about romance. It’s about something deeper.

It’s a hymn. A prayer disguised as a melody.

A way to remember that something good still exists. The idea that care still exists even when everything seems too far gone.

Without despair we will share
And the joys of caring will not be replaced
What has been must never end
And with the strength we have won't be erased

Even when we’re hurting, we still have the power to reach each other.

I’ve listened to that song so many times since. And every time, I hear something new.

Not because the lyrics change, but because I do.

It reminded me that love isn’t just about emotion. It’s about presence.

It’s what we offer when we show up without needing anything in return. It can be a message. A song.

A moment you weren’t expecting that makes you feel less alone.

When the truths of love are planted firm
They won't be hard to find
And the words of love I speak to you
Will echo in my mind

That day, James didn’t just share a song.

He reminded me of who I still am.

I believe Stevie had been in touch with something higher when he wrote it.

Some people have this rare ability to take their experience and turn it into something the rest of us can feel.

But the message of that song, the strength in sharing, in caring, in loving, doesn’t belong only to artists. Not only to gifted souls like Stevie Wonder

It lives in all of us.

We’re born with it, even if life makes us forget.

And I also reminded me why I write here.

I write because I want to give something back. Because I don’t know how much time I have.

Because I still believe in this world, and the people who live in it.

My dear friend James didn’t know exactly what I was going through.

He didn’t have to. He just shared something beautiful.

That’s what love looks like, I believe. And I’m so sure that Stevie believe it too everytime he sings this song.

Not the big declarations, but the timing. The knowing. The presence.

And it is probably what I’m trying to do here too.

To be a presence.

To share something small, at the right moment.

To remind someone, anyone, anywhere, that you’re not alone in the dark.

I believe in that.

Even here.

Even now.

And this time, it will be forever.

—Viktor

🇺🇦

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🔖 There’s no team behind this, just me, writing from Ukraine. And every paid subscription helps me keep this open for everyone who needs to read these glimpses of hope. Thank you so much for considering it if you can. But just knowing you're reading already means so much to me.

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📖 “The Divine Comedian: Ukraine’s Journey Through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise” is my first book: about Ukraine, seen from inside the fire, and the hope that refuses to die. Download it for free (PDF & Kindle).