A Light at the End of the World
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
For those with any kind of cancer in their system, it is a scary time. Having lost loved ones and friends to various cancers, I count myself fortunate that prostate cancer, unless it becomes very aggressive, is rarely terminal on its own account. Even so, living with it from 2011 - when I was 65 - into the heart of a coronavirus pandemic has given me some panicky moments.
For many people, 2020 has been a tragic year, losing loved ones and friends to Covid-19. Someone recently commented on losing her mother to the coronavirus, that “I feel as if it it’s the end of my world…”
I
know that feeling well, but whenever it hits me, I recall something my mother
told me many years ago when my grandfather died. “Always remember,” she said, “that
love never dies. Whenever you feel the need to be with someone you have lost,
close your eyes, picture them as you best remember them, and engage with them
as if they were still here…”
I confess I was sceptical, but have tried it many times since, and it always works, especially with my mother who died some 40+ years ago. Those we love and who inspire us never stop loving or inspiring us.
There can, of course, be no substitute for the physical presence of those we love, whether we are separated by mortality or simply distance, but if love is what makes our world go round, it is always there, ready to support and comfort us, even (or especially) at such dark times as our world may seem to have ceased to turn.
Try it, and see…?
A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Allied
to mortality am I,
no
friend to mercy or compassion,
nor
soul to keep me
from
carrying out my worst intentions;
though
my kinder host
will
have it say, I’d have the last word
be
mine, and mine alone,
only
to be robbed of the greater epiphany
by
such life forces as resist me
I
will seek out the innocent,
and
drain the very life from them
without
a qualm,
nor
showing favour to any nobility,
age,
gender, sexuality,
status
or lack of it in the eyes of the world;
rich
or poor, beggar or thief,
all
are equal when my push comes to shove,
but
the Spirit of Love resisting me
My
victory may well be assured,
but
never complete, trust human nature
to
see to that,
with
its lust for life and affinity with love
in
all its shapes and forms,
bringing
to mind-body-spirit such a passion
for
the meaning of things,
leave a trail for others to follow, as likely as not
a leading light in their darkness
I
am that cancer forcing mind and body to submit,
but
even I cannot kill the human spirit
Copyright R. N. Taber, 2020
Labels: cancer, coronavirus, Covid-19, grief, human nature, human spirit, inspiration, life forces, loneliness, love, loved ones, mortality, personal space, poetry, positive thinking, posthumous consciousness, society
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