Passers-By, a Collage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Life is rarely as dark as it sometimes may seem in our personal space just so long as we always make room there for love, in all its shapes, forms and consciousness.

While it may sometimes seem that even love has forgotten us, we need to remember that, although loved ones may be far away, even dead, moving on does not mean leaving anyone behind and their love will continue to sustain us through good times and bad  ... if we let it.

We also need to consider future generations and how the human condition can be much improved - mentally and physically - by paying closer attention to environmental as well as social issues; at the root of the latter often lies an inability to grasp that we are a common humanity whose differences do not make us 'different', only human. Moreover, we need to act in the Here-and-Now or any future generations that may yet emerge will never forgive us. [Yes, I know I have said this before, but as my old English teacher, 'Jock' Rankin ,used to say, if something is worth saying, it is worth repeating.]

PASSERS-BY, A COLLAGE

Time, it’s passing by me,
all alone;
stress, getting worse each day;
love, it’s all around me.
yet closed to many (still) refusing 

to answer for any tears let fall or accept

any blame

Society, it’s hacking me
to pieces,
(human remains everywhere);
among those left for dead 

by religions whose agendas pass
for dogma spelling out our sins, for better,

for worse

Politics, it’s smothering me,
so weary
of hearing its lies and half-lies,
to satisfy appetites

for power feeding on such promises 
as likely to win votes as lead its paymasters 

by the nose 

Hope, always there for me,

urging me

to stay (for the better part)

on the brighter side

of life, notwithstanding a fascination

with its darker side, innate as it well may be,

and only human

Differences, ever hacking
into each other,
if only to be first among equals;
history, busy reworking
ages-old myths as likely as likely as not 

to confound, let generations naively deploring

lessons unlearned

Time, it’s passing by me,
listening out
for the timbre of each heartbeat;
love, it’s all around,
and would heal even those among us

allowing self-pity to consign its essential integrity

to free fall

See-Hear, a common humanity
with a duty of care
to all creatures great and small,
or risk the well-being

of future generations put in jeopardy

by a collective failing to acknowledge and act on early

warning signs

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012, rev.2020

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012.]