http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Today's poem first appeared on the
blog in 2012.
Many of us are fascinated by our
family history, and have been very frustrated by the closure of research libraries
and archives due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Our predecessors carry the secrets
of our genes which, in turn, help to shape who we are and what we make of our
lives; a posthumous consciousness to which I often refer in my
poems. Hopefully, more will be opening up as C-16 restrictions are gradually
lifted ... so long as a second wave doesn't hit sooner rather than later.
Fingers (and toes) crossed; crossed,
too for the re-opening of public libraries, of course.
But, oh, to be on the family
history trail...!
This poem is a villanelle.
R-O-O-T-S, SPECIES OF MOSS
UNCOVERED or HISTORY, CAUSE AND EFFECT
Challenging history,
moss on graveyard stone defies
what we call, identity
Traits of a personality
but a strategy ancestors devise,
challenging history
Shades of mystery
conspiring to spring surprise;
what we call, identity
A cliff-hanging story
of hope and glory, love and lies
challenging history
An affinity with mortality
drawn from family archives;
what we call, identity
A feeling for eternity,
whatever its ends may comprise;
challenging history,
what we call, identity
[From: On
the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
Labels: ancestry, family history, gender identity, genealogy, genes, ghosts, history, human nature, human spirit, imagination, inspiration, life, mind-body-spirit, nature, personal space, poetry, posthumous consciousness
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