Defining Moments .

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

How many time have you heard someone say about someone that he or she doesn’t stand a chance of succeeding at this or that because they are too small or too tall, too young or too old, not well enough known or connected or not good looking enough or don’t have enough experience or qualifications.etc…?

Ah, but never underestimate the powers of the human spirit or be too quick to dismiss the old adage, ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’

Now, I am not a religious person, but was raised as a Christian and know my Bible. I have since learned that all the Holy Books have much in common; God is a hero, humanity heroic, and everyday life recognised for what it is, the greatest story ever told.

DEFINING MOMENTS

I watched a small red boat

riding waves on a big blue sea;

suddenly, it occurred to me

that small can be big, depending

on whatever our perception,

a popular misconception being

that little is helpless against

a far mightier charge, as small

is to large. Who cannot recall

tales of David  against Goliath

and Samson beating Delilah

at her own game, taken for fools

on a roll call of heroes

Who knows? Sailors on a small

red boat may yet prove themselves

equally worthy. Let’s not forget

that who laughs last laughs longest

nor is best always found among

strongest, for where wisdom lies

and purpose, sheer will defies

any need to avoid where lions feed

as Daniel in the den discovered

and young Isaac to the block tied,

wise men, too, and shepherds

mo less blind to the art of metaphor
than Paul on the Damascus road

A small red boat in a storm

may well defy all odds against

fending off its cries and fury,

come into its own, return home

(as I stay muzzled at the helm

of a grander vessel by far, deemed

fated to follow orders and trust

in my betters to always know best?)

For good or ill, let’s take a turn 

at the Wheel and chance surviving

the re-telling of a tale already

re-worked by idiots, all but lost

and signifying next to nothing

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2011; 2018

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears as ‘Fools’ Paradise’ in The Third Eye by R. N. Taber Assembly Books, 2004.]