A Poet's Blog: Roger N.Taber shares his thoughts & poems...

Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian and poet-novelist.- "Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Sexuality ... these are but parts of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to critical emails about my poetry. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

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Location: London, United Kingdom

Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Where the Keyword is Self-Awareness

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

A new poem today, probably brought on by my having too much time to think during such days of Covid-19 coronavirus that the world is waking up to every day, but none of us know how any day will end; even so, 'Hope springs eternal' ...  which definitely has to be my all-time favourite among corny truisms. wry bardic grin


Some of us, for whatever reasons, get off to an uneasy, if not downright unhappy or bad start in life; some blameworthy fate seems to have it in for us.  I felt this way for years as a teenager and young man, not least because I was gay and same sex relationships were illegal at the time; other influences, too, mostly from family and peers, saw my younger self in something of a psychological mess for which it suited me to blame some existential fate rather than take responsibility for myself.


Eventually, I came to realise that any hell I was in was of my own making; it was the start of my finding a way back to a self with whom I was (and still am) more comfortable.


“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” 

- Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”  often attributed to C. S. Lewis



WHERE THE KEYWORD, IS SELF-AWARENESS, 

There is a part of me
that no one ever gets to know
for my living out
its fantasy, a nightmare fiction imposed
on mind-body-spirit

Mind, it can but fight
as best it can to get the better
of forces as unremittingly
as uncaringly infiltrating the human body
time after time

Spirit, it can but resist
until worn down by nightmares 
passing for home truths
by certain elements of human psychology
worn on its sleeves

The better part of me,
struggling with secrets and lies
it’s made to house
in a heart hell bent on betraying appearances
behind closed doors

The years, they but pass
in tears for needing  to break free
of a mind-body-spirit
that would ransom me to Reason, but Reason
is having none of it

Finally, Reason pays up,
returning me to the kind of self
that is a kinder person,
if vulnerable to life forces that can get the better
of you, me, anyone

I grow old, but less haunted
by secrets and lies putting me down
than by other ghosts, 
old allies in adversity come to rescue me again,
and dry my tears,

That's life, and human nature;
we may well seek to nurture a natural 
predilection for peace 
and love in a world open to taking on all-comers,
but… who knows…?

Copyright R. N. Taber 2020

[Note: This poet-poem also appears on my gay-interest poetry blog today..] RNT

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