A Life in the Day of Everyman OR Sunrise to Sunset: an Existential Journey

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

I seem to recall playing a board game years ago, in the course of which if a player’s throw of a dice moved him or her into a tunnel, they would have to pay a forfeit to get back into the game again.  

When I spoke to a friend on the phone recently, he was clearly at a low ebb and I was finding it hard to lift his spirits; like so many of us during the coronavirus pandemic, he could see little if any light at the end of his own particular tunnel. When I had occasion to speak to him again later, though, his tone was markedly more positive.  He described how walking by the river during a beautiful sunset had not only brought him peace of mind-body-spirit, but that same aura of peace had given him the space he needed to get his thoughts in order and see his way more clearly. 

Regular readers may recall how my ocean passage to Australia many years ago, was an enlightening experience in itself for giving me time and space to similarly get my thoughts in order and see my way more clearly, not least in so far as I was not so much going to Oz as running away from a seemingly impossible situation here in the UK. Oh, and yes, I have many a glorious sunrise and sunset to thank for that too. 

A LIFE IN THE DAY OF EVERYMAN or SUNRISE to SUNSET, AN EXISTENTIAL JOURNEY

Rising with the dawn,
following the first sunbeam
that happens along,
mind-body-spirit taking laughter
and birdsong for its cue;
leaping here and there to join
cheeky clouds at play
while continuing along Sunshine Road,
allowing joie de vivre its way

Pausing at high noon
to look down at worlds below
mapped out as one,
yet playing host to such divisions
as see no end in sight
to socio-cultural-religious flaws
justifying wars of a kind
that target the human spirit with a view
to corrupting heart and mind 

Saved from bleak despair
by a glorious sunset inviting me
to wing such shades
of pink, red and gold as illuminate
old Apollo’s lair,
help lighten, too, any heavy load
humanity asked to bear
for having its imagination so fired as daring
to seek (even find) rescue there 

Where human instincts risk failing each other,
come words to the wise from Earth Mother

 Copyright R. N. Taber, 2020