A Dawning

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

(Photo taken from the Internet)

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." - Oscar Wilde

"The light that puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star." -Henry David Thoreau

"One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night." - Germaine Greer"

Dawn: When men of reason go to bed." - Ambrose Bierce

Now, yet another reader asks “How on earth can anyone be expected to think positive in a world of negatives.” And as I’ve said before, we have but Hobson’s Choice, sink or swim…

As it happens, I can’t physically swim, but learned at an early age how to do so mentally. True, I have been at risk of drowning in my own mistakes from time to time, but much the same life forces that drove me to make them also rescued me. 

The greater mystery of life is indeed… mysterious; a mixed blessing, to say the least. What to make of it is down to each and every one of us, although our circumstances will vary, so we shouldn’t blame ourselves entirely for either wrong choices or missed opportunities; what we need to accept (better late than never) rather than blame ourselves for (or others) is our not always grabbing a metaphorical shovel and digging ourselves out of whatever mess we may find ourselves in.

Some people seem to sail through life, enjoy more than their fair share of fine weather and happy times. Envy, though, never did anyone any good; besides, appearances can be and often are deceptive. More to the point, it’s our life, our mind-body-spirit having to find its way, no ducking our responsibilities for long, however much we may try. 

Warring factions never did peace of mind any favours, and there are often as many of those within us as without.

What happens in the wider world affects us all, one way or another, not least  Putin’s war on Ukraine’s descending into new depths of depravity only yesterday with a missile attack on a crowded shopping mall in the central Ukranian city of Kremenchuk.

Oh, but yes, you are so right. I am not saying anything new, nothing we haven’t heard or thought before, so…why bother saying it? None at all if no one is taking it in, including yours truly. 

Taking it in or not, as the case may be, maybe it’s taking it on that counts, living by feelings for its making of us a better or worse person, wherever on its learning curve we happen to be in the course of any Here-and-Now?  As for any warring factions within and without us, the sooner they agree to differ, the better for everyone…but, like so many facts of life, easier to acknowledge than put into practise. 

Meanwhile, another sunrise making us promises it may or may not keep, depending on…?

A DAWNING

Waking with a heavy heart,
fearful of surviving yet another day
of medication, isolation, 
missing once favourite pleasures,
now barely memories,
bidding mind-body-spirit rise above it all,
recharge heart-and-soul

Can but rise to the challenge,
dodge arrows of despair as we dare
find ways to redirect 
negative thoughts into exit mode,
call on Imagination
to let us ally such with other spirited voices
making wiser, kinder choices

Earth Mother, ever here for us,
to lend a helping hand,
instruct the wind that we may be
privy to and inspired
by chicks in trees learning how to fly
in the face of global fears, learn peace songs,
lend meaning to safer landings

Rise, open curtains at windows
passing for human eyes,
give worldly sights and sounds benefit
of any doubt, take heart
just from living by learning how to fly
in the face of global fears, letting peace songs
lend meaning to safer landings

Copyright R. N. Taber 2022