Life Forces OR That 'if' Word Again

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

Today’s poem first appeared on the blog in 2017.

Another very hot day is forecast for the UK, especially here in the south-east so … be careful out there.

Summer is usually a time for vacationing and sunbathing; no different this year except for social distancing and possibly more holidays at home, given the rising number of countries from which we need to self-isolate for two weeks when we return.

Summer is here, yes, but for many of us and others around the world it may well feel like we’re living out wintry days of anxiety, even with regards to going out and about, especially as a significant number of people are choosing to ignore social distancing guidelines, and some are not even wearing masks. Yes, I know people with certain health issues are exempt from wearing masks, but when I have travelled on public transport, no one has been asking why, and I heard one man tell his companion that “he simply did not intend to wear one “on principle”; no principles there, just plain selfishness and lack of concern for others.

There is but one thing to do when our season of the heart is in wintry mode; we need to find various ways to compensate. and follow the bluebird of happiness where even angels would fear to tread. I know because, over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting some of them; ordinary people living ordinary lives with an extraordinary mixture of a resilience and stoicism bordering upon heroism and an enviable capacity for finding contentment that should not be mistaken for being resigned.

Many if not most of us live secret lives, mind-blowing tales out of custom designed storybooks that feed our egos (in the nicest possible way, of course) compensating for discrepancies in how we might like our lives to be and how we (and others) are likely to find them.

Such is the potential, too, for however long our seasons may be haunted by the Covid-19 coronavirus…until or unless we find a way to lend the stories more truth than fiction (in the nicest possible way, of course) and do more than simply reconcile ourselves (and others) to the status quo.

Hopefully a vaccine will become available before too long. Meanwhile, we can but stay true to mind-body-spirit and… who knows?😉

LIFE FORCES or THAT 'IF' WORD AGAIN 

If I were a swallow,

I would fly far south at the close

of autumn…

to better times, kinder climes,

no lust for stoicism

If I were a fox,

I would outrun hunt and hounds,

deny them

a red brush token (ego) trophy,

any glory, all mine

If I were an owl,

I would hoot merry hell at a world

daring sleep

parade its vanities under cover

of safe houses

If I were a robin,

I would take heart from all nature’s

lust for life,

hope to learn, pass on the better

part of its poetry

If I were to cease

contriving to make wishful thinking

fly in the face of reason,

I'd be up for meeting the challenge 

that's Here-and-Now

  

Copyright R. N. Taber 2017, 2020