The Lane Revisited (On the Sunny Side) OR The Great Escape

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

While the Covid-19 coronavirus is getting everyone down, various safety restrictions being imposed across the world are not helping, whether we agree with the necessity for and extent of them or not. Everyone is affected, one way or another, but older people who live alone are possibly finding it the hardest to cope with everyday life which is anything but ‘everyday’ as we knew it pre-coronavirus.

Me, I seek refuge in happier memories, taking care to avoid any unhappy ones. Hence, another new poem today.  (Friends can always tell when I am stressed out as I churn out poems. wry bardic grin)

THE LANE REVISITED (ON THE SUNNY SIDE) or THE GREAT ESCAPE

When the burdens of life
would have me on my knees in despair,
I have only to close my eyes
and enjoy a stroll down the sunny side
of Memory Lane, be comforted
by warm smiles, pausing for a cosy chat
with old friends, share a laugh,
invite the Here-and-Now to take its cue
from ghosts of a kinder past 

There is a house on The Lane
where I uttered my first cry on being made
to leave the safety of a womb
and take my chances in a world that would
rarely (if ever) offer the same
comfort and safety of a mother’s embrace,
rocking me gently, treating me
to so rare taste of love-and-peace as needs
must last a human lifetime 

There are friends on The Lane
with whom I bonded as my formative years
mentored me well
in the art of just taking people as I find them,
no rush to judgement
for being ignorant (as yet) of such cruel ways
of the world that would take me
on a learning curve comparable with a climbing
any of the highest mountains 

At the end of the Lane, barely time
to say goodbyes, and what is it now I can see,
but another road challenging me
to make whatever I will of wherever it may lead,
no fault but mine if I fail
to draw upon the same taste for love-and-peace
as will comfort and reassure
those who care to take a stroll down the sunny side
of life anytime, anywhere 

If my Here-and-Now no less a challenge
than before, at least mind-body-spirit rests easier
for knowing there is light after dark,
healing after pain, rainbows after rain, Earth Mother
rocking us gently, treating us
to so rare a taste of love-and-peace that may not last
a lifetime, but even a share now
and then, a dream for any human heart to keep as safe
as any worldly treasure 

Earth Mother, too, all but giving upon us now and then?
Our cue to live and learn on The Lane … yet again

Copyright R. N. Taber 2020