Bird Life OR Eulogy for (all) Lovers

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

Death is part and parcel of living. No writer can ignore it, especially a poet. I don’t think death is anything to fear but simply part of the continuum that is the human spirit.

As regular readers will know, I rejected religion even as a child and chose to put my faith in nature. It is in nature that I identify with a strong sense of spirituality that continues to sustain me throughout both good and bad times. Yes, nature can be a force to fear at times, but so can human nature.  

Who could be afraid of a flower or a tree?

As for pain…well, yes, I am a coward when it comes to pain. Hopefully, death will come peacefully when my time comes for it to pay a call. But…who knows? Perhaps it is true what they say about ‘no pain, no gain’ and we have as much to gain in death as we do in life, maybe even more... Whatever, I see death following life just as spring follows winter; not in any religious sense, but religion does not have a monopoly on spirituality and the human spirit that makes us who we are is sure to live on in the heart and minds of those we have knowingly (or unknowingly) influenced during our lifetime. 

We miss loved ones who have passed away, of course we do, but knowing that their influence for good on us and others continues to make a positive contribution to life here on Earth has been, for me,  an ongoing celebration and acknowledgement of their lives; in that sense alone, a huge comfort and inspiration.

The notion of a posthumous consciousness is prevalent in literature, of course, notably the classics, and arguably no more so than in Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights'.

Meanwhile…

 BIRD LIFE or  EULOGY FOR (ALL) LOVERS

‘Death’

such a sad, lonely word,

flies above us like a graceful bird

but makes no sound

nor will it ever descend to breathe

life and love into a tree

or flex its wings on our window sill;

we can but watch, learn, dare

to flex our own, breathe

life and love into a tree, no matter

where it be, for there I will

sit with you and you will sit with me,

watching a bird on wing

bring grace to the greyest skies

nor any fairer sound

till joined by another then hear both

sing loud and clear, a poem

for the trees to share night and day

long, long, after we have

gone away

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; rev. title 2008

[Note: First published under the title 'Lines on Nature Conservation' in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]