http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Today's poem
first appeared on the blog in 2016.
The
Covid-19 coronavirus has plunged much of the world into another war, this time
with an invisible enemy, probably the worst and hardest kind of war to fight.
Fight, though, we have, as a common humanity united in its resolve to see this
awful pandemic through and emerge the stronger, and hopefully the more united
for it.
Courage,
indeed, has many faces and has shown them all in recent months;in the
selflessness of health workers, the stoicism of victims, the tragedy of losing
loved ones where often even close family were unable to be at theirs side as
they passed away ... and so it goes on. The war is far from over and far from
won, but the human spirit is not easily put down, and will continue to see us
through until the world, hopefully, resumes a stronger sense of normality, No,
nothing will ever be quite the same again, but the same spirit that wins wars
will see us win this one too, of that, at least yours truly is certain.
Many men
and women rarely settle down easily - if at all - into everyday life for being
haunted by scenes of death and carnage they have witnessed on tours of duty
around a world where civil wars and terrorist atrocities persist. Family
and friends from all socio-cultural-religious backgrounds and
nations need to support them as and when we can. The same principle applies to
our war with Covid-19. As a common humanity, we need to support each other wherever and whenever possible; at the very least, avoid exacerbating divisions.
In the
summer of Summer, 2016 we commemorated the start of the Battle of the Somme 100
years earlier, remembering the human the face of Freedom;
various cultural-religious-political face masks should not be mistaken for the real
thing. Covid-19 has tested and continues to test the latter, along with the rest of us, and the various face masks we, too, are inclined to wear.
Thankfully, at least some lessons have been learned since the
First World War about the effects of stress even on trained, experienced
service personnel in a war zone. Covid-19 has placed us all in
a war zone, untrained and inexperienced alongside those best equipped to help
us, and to whom we owe an immeasurable vote of thanks.
Around
the world, the battle against coronavirus continues. Around the world, too,
courage continues
to show its many faces, ensuring that we may lose a few
battles along the way, but we can and will win the war.
WAR
AND REMEMBRANCE, ALL INCLUSIVE
Jim was
just seventeen
when war
broke out;
he was
courting a girl
called
Jane…
They held
hands at the fair,
dreaming
and planning
for the
future, celebrating
their
lives together
Jim was
just eighteen
when he
joined up,
all his
mates did too,
everyone
admiring
the
uniform, waving him off
with
bursts of cheers
while
Jim’s ma and Jane
saved
their tears
Jim was
just nineteen
as war
took its toll,
savaged
the soul, senses
caving in
till no place
left to
run like a fox in a hole,
hounds
hunting it down,
waiting
for the end, shivering
for sheer
terror
And who’d
know any better
than
soldiers of the crown,
the human
spirit once broken
no use
to anyone?
All was
haste, no time to waste,
the pack
denied its reward,
Jim
(refused a blindfold) shot
at dawn
for a coward
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2002, 2016, 2020
[Note:
Revised (2012) from an earlier version that appears under the title ‘Unsung
Hero, in First Person Plural by R. N. Taber,
Assembly Books, 2002 and subsequently in Poppy Fields 2007, Poetry
Now [Forward Press] 2006.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home