Thought, Last Seen Hanging By A Thread

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

A new poem today.

Sometimes if not mostly, a thought is an inarticulate or partially formed feeling; follow it through, and who knows where it may take us...? Whatever, it is sure to put us in in touch with something; an idea, a passion even or simply an awareness that we would have preferred not to acknowledge ... perhaps for fear we might not be up to it?

THOUGHT, LAST SEEN HANGING BY A THREAD

Hear me crying out to humanity,

hanging by its every word

of bigotry, betrayal, hypocrisy,

in socio-cultural-religious

dispute over how its will be done

for the greater good of its own

where children with hungry eyes

despair of salvation in this life

or any next, mothers worn down

by weeping for men folk taken

off to fields of battle that will yield

no harvest but more of the same

Watch me dying for humanity

like a last leaf turning yellow

among sad branches of a history

once green and strong, ringing

out a message of peace and love

and believing every word said,

in promises made, even signed for,

while a robin’s song in winter

about spring being next on nature’s

agenda for us all is drowned out

by socio-cultural-religious ranting

raking over more of the same

Save me from poor humanity’s

petty squabbles in this or that

corridor of power, on this podium,

that pulpit, whatever...

Don’t let me hang for every word

of do-gooder speak ever uttered

in monologue, dialogue, preaching

to the hopeful or the hopeless

(as its case may be) but rise above

attempts to make us slaves

in someone else’s dream most likely

to mean even more of the same

Fly with me for humanity’s sake;

sing with birds, nest in trees,

watch the young and teach the art

of survival in a world

where all that’s natural takes pride

in the integrity of identity,

humility, selflessness, sexuality,

and other fine qualities

commonly human but often put down

by socio-cultural-religious fears

that any change means loss of face, 

preferring more of the same

Don’t leave me crying for humanity,

hanging by its every word ... 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012