http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Today's
poem first appeared on the blog in 2016.
Since the
Covid-19 coronavirus struck earlier this year, I have made many references to
the fact that – especially as I live alone – writing up the blogs and working
on a new collection of poems (albeit more slowly than I would like) has been a (very)
welcome distraction and very therapeutic in the sense that it has saved me from
getting too depressed and going into freefall.
Several readers have emailed
to say how attending to their gardens has worked for them in much the same way.
I guess few activities beat actively participating in the growth of living things,
whether it be a plant of a person. Me, I do not access to a garden, but look over one surrounded by trees, so can enjoy watching the birds and other life forces from my kitchen window.
One
reader writes, “I live alone and do not have a garden, but I have a small dog
and pot plants that help keep me sane. If I had to focus only on myself, I
would be in dire straits by now …”
While the
pandemic is a nightmare for everyone, dare I say it I so much worse for those people
living alone are having to focus on themselves in the absence of much support
from family and friends who may well not be able to visit; contact by telephone
and/or video sessions help, but can make us feel so much worse once the sessions
ends and the harsh reality of being alone attacks our senses with a vengeance.
If ever there was a global need for
positive thinking,
it is now as some countries like the UK emerge from lockdown while dreading a
return of the coronavirus before a vaccine can be found.
My mother
loved gardening. She saw herself as foster mother to the plants, flowers and
wildlife she took under her wing. "It's much like bringing up a
family," she once commented wryly, "they give far more pleasure for
pleasure's own sake than by way of any compensating for what's best
forgotten..."
Audrey
Hepburn is often quoted as having said, 'To plant a garden is to believe
in tomorrow.'
Now, I
have always been a Hepburn fan, not least because I, too, discovered years ago
that positive thinking will see us through just about any of the negatives life
throws our way or puts in our heads; we just have to believe in tomorrow. (Did
I say it was easy...?)
Stay strong,
folk, and think positive.
This poem
is a villanelle.
APPRENTICE
TO NATURE
Proudly,
much like a lover,
a flowering of its time like no other,
creating an evergreen border
Watching it grow, mature,
as per
laissez-faire of Earth Mother;
proudly,
much like a lover
Every second, minute, hour,
dreams to share in, store and nurture,
creating an evergreen border
Mixed emotions undercover
yet rising to every occasion (whatever)
proudly, much like a lover
A
pupil-apprentice to nature,
the best
part of any past-present-future,
creating an evergreen border
Humanity,
common gardener,
marking
the fruits of selfless endeavour;
proudly,
much like a lover,
creating
an evergreen border
Roger N. Taber 2016
[Note: If you ever want to contact me - rogertab@aol.com - please put 'Poetry' in the subject field or it will be ignored. All non-spam emails will receive a reply although there may be a short delay as I have various health problems at the moment.]
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