Like
many if not most of us, I am close to desperation as the Covid-19 coronavirus
persists even though there are signs that it is starting to abate. I miss being
with friends and am finding my own company increasingly unbearable. Only by engaging
with an inner self that has always been a more positive thinking force than its
human host, am I able to recover sufficient self-confidence to not only face the day
ahead, but even write a poem.
I
have always been plagued by self-doubt. As a child and young person at school
many years ago, any self-confidence I was able to muster would soon be
undermined by one thing or another. My perceptive of ‘pitch’ deafness was not
diagnosed till my early twenties, and this did not help; time and time again, I
was made to look a fool by not hearing or mishearing what people said, whether they
be family members, friends or school teachers. I had no way of knowing how the
pitch of someone’s voice or surrounding acoustics could affect how I perceived what
someone said and, in turn, what response was required. When I realised that I
am gay, I was almost as inclined to put myself down for it as most people were in
the 1950’s, and many still are although they might well deny it for fear of being
seen to contravene any equality and /or political correctness legislation.
While
I can only speak from personal experience, I have had many a conversation with
people of all genders, ages and socio-cultural-religious backgrounds who, for
whatever reason, have had battles with self-confidence all their lives;
hopefully, we ain more than we lose, bit it is invariably the latter that continue
to haunt us.
So
how do we overcome a lack of self-confidence, faith in ourselves, and any
subsequent self-consciousness that makes us wish the earth beneath us would
swallow us up in certain situations? My Religious Education teacher, a Mr Partridge, who ‘regretted’ but did not hold
my inability to identify with religion against me, told me on the day I left forever
that “Those unable to reach out to God, for whatever reason, have no choice but
to reach out to themselves, that is to say the inner self. The chances are,
they will touch and draw upon such physical and spiritual life forces beyond
all understanding.” I was sceptical the time, but now in my 70’s, I have to say
it is among the best advice I have ever received.
When
nature and/ or human nature takes you to the edge of some existential abyss,
take heart, dear readers, look to your inner self, and you may well be
pleasantly surprised at what you may find there.
This poem is a kenning. …
FACING UP
TO LIFE
Let
good times roll,
and find me responding
in
kind as, indeed,
much
the same whenever
life
they take a turn
for
the worse, although be sure
I
will default to positives
before
the harshest negatives will get
the
better of me
See
bad times persist,
and find me smiling through
if
only to conceal
an
everyday struggle within
to
rise above however
mind-body-spirit
defaulting
to
autopilot by way
of
blocking any such feelings likely to get
the
better of me
Yet,
there are such times
in
the human condition effecting
system
failure,
demanding
I call on whatever
native
skills as left me
to
restore working order,
rise
above any sense of failure likely to get
the
better of me
Above
all things, I, Inspiration am set the task
of
encouraging mine host to but do as I ask
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2010; 2020
[Note: This poem also appears on my gay-interest poetry blog today.]