Endurance

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

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” – William Barclay

Endurance id one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.” – Buddha

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller

“In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.” – Neville Chamberlain.

Now, there are few good-feel News stories in the world today; one such story is the release of Nazanin, Zaghari-Radcliffe forcibly detained and separated from her husband and young daughter for six long years by Iranian authorities bent on using her (among others) as a political pawn. The human mind can barely begin to imagine the full horror of her experience; it can only be awe-struck by an inspirational level of endurance.  

Meanwhile, the horrors of war continue, yet again, to dominate our tv screens as the Russian invasion of Ukraine proceeds into it fourth week...

ENDURANCE

Sometimes. mind-body-spirit
needs must force itself to rise and dance
to the music of such times past
as heart and soul would celebrate happy days,
enough as would wake the dead
if they could, but the dead prefer to sleep
in perfect peace,
the music stopped with such devilish suddenness
as gives innocence its cue for endurance

In no time at all, heart and soul,
plunged into an ultra-surreal a scenario,
like characters in a classic tragedy, played out
for all the world to watch,
moved to almost as great a despair as its players,
no end in view from which
to walk away into the nearest comfort zone,
enjoy whatever pleasures can usually be relied upon
to thrust us into a more agreeable fiction

No such comforting reality on hand
to those so caught up in the savagery of war,
as natural thought processes
temporarily on hold while struggling to make sense
of it all, no end in sight,
personal space spoiled for choice; see it through
and hope to survive – or flee,
endeavour to restore a balance of well-being in pieces,
left shell-shocked by invader-neighbours

A sense of reason, even under duress,
needs must make it way through any fog of war,
steel itself to walk a tightrope
of fear, struggle to ignore such irretrievable losses
as the simple pleasures of life
in the company of family, friends, peers.
guaranteeing the kind of tomorrows
likely to let us sleep soundly, hopeful of yet another day
to see us and loved ones safely on our way

No safety here, danger in every step taken,
dashing for cover at the sound of every air raid siren,
conscious of the enemy’s disrespect
for old and young alike, an indiscriminate bombing
and shelling, no hospital safe,
nor even a theatre, refuge for many hundreds,
only to be destroyed, few survivors
to tell their terrible tales, inflict yet more anguish and pain
on already exhausted fellow countrymen

Fathers, grandfathers and older teenage sons,
having to stay behind, face the rising crescendo of war
knowing they well may never see
and feel the comfort and joy of family togetherness
ever again, heart and soul alone
unable to quite compensate for the reality of being one,
rather than in bits and pieces
like the human jigsaw puzzle that can never be completed
though mind-body-spirits left undefeated

Time passes, but no hiding place for authors of human misery
among the pages of its history

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2022