Shadows across the Sun

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

“God’s in His heaven/ All’s right with the world.” - Robert Browning (Pippa Passes)

I have to admit that when I first read these lines in Browning’s poem, I was appalled that anyone could be so naïve. Some 60+ years later, I haven’t changed my mind. Raised an evangelical non-conformist, however, Browning is reputed to have expressed various views on his faith which makes a reader wonder if the sentiment here expresses an element of wishful thinking.

From a 19^th century poet, let us turn our attention to the present, yesterday in fact, when authorities here in the U.K. took the unusual step of issuing ‘red’ warnings - indicating a danger to life - for parts of southwest England between 7 a.m. and noon (GMT) yesterday and for southeast England and London from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. A lower level ‘amber’ warning for gusts up to 80 mph covered the whole of England from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Eunice is the second named storm to hit Europe in two days, with the first storm killing at least five people in Germany and Poland.

As I watched Eunice rage on TV from the safety and comfort of my studio flat in London, I was reminded of various tensions raging across the world, notably – at this moment in time – NATO, the EU and UK’s concerns about Russia’s intentions towards Ukraine.

Later, in the day, as I watched Eunice showing signs of losing its impetus, having left a trail of damage causing distress and confusion to man, I found myself drawing the usual parallels between nature and human nature.

Coincidence, I wondered (not for the first time) that nature should be flexing its muscle while the world watches on tenterhooks as the Russia-Ukraine situation unfolds? Or nature and human nature’s way of providing copycat food for serious thought...?

SHADOWS ACROSS THE SUN

Blow winds, rain and snow!
Take me away from here, anywhere
but this dreamy place
that’s doing my head in, bringing me down,
getting me nowhere,
for constantly reminding mind-body-spirit
that once it had greater
of thought, heart enough to ward off
such arrows as human nature
is inclined to take its cue from the natural world.
time after time

Blow winds, rain and snow!
Wreak what damage you will, if only
to show you can...
If God’s in His heaven and all’s supposedly
right with the world
as once glimpsed through the eyes
of a poet,
has imagination lost its way in stormy weather
or has humanity failed
to grasp the essentials of what teamwork is about,
time after time?

Blow winds, rain and snow!
Turn the screws on mind-body-spirit,
but make it whole again,
let it feel able to step back from The Abyss
where you’d have it fall,
quite possibly reparable in the mind’s eye,
but never quite the same
as when it had learned to work hand in glove
with such life forces
as can fortify, giving the lie to losers and no-hopers,
time and time, and time again

Let the elements rage against us
we can but live to learn what a rainbow
has to say about skies
turning blue again, giant waves leaving food
for thought,
as we set about repairing any damage
by working together
as a team, anger put aside long enough to see
a global mind-body-spirit
come into its own, show we doubters it can yet be done,
time and time, and time again 

Whatever shadows across the sun,
uneasiness for fears never (quite) shared
for nature’s voice
being interpreted as encouragement
or warning by technologies,
while peoples (for leaning on the science)
risk losing their balance,
not least for wanting to be seen as scoring points
over each other,
inclined to risk the very life forces of interdependence,
time and time, and time again

If ‘each to their own’ a morality we choose to live by,
without teamwork, humanity can but do and die 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2022