http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
I am not happy with the new blogger and wasn't when I was invited to try it some time ago. I had hoped we bloggers might be given a choice to continue in the old format, but it appears not, so I may not be blogging here for much longer. It is typical - in my personal experience - that so many people and organizations, even some shops, give little thought to how many older people like myself - who do not have i-phones or android and struggle with IT - are easily confused, especially those of us living alone and have been struggling with other health issues long before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, I will see how I get on with the new format when needs must ... but am not optimistic. Meanwhile, I will continue in the old format while I still can ...
Today's poem last appeared on the
blog in 2014.
People often tell me that as we
grow old(er) we spend more time looking back because there are fewer reason to
look forward, and it is this ‘negativity’ that drags us down and others
with us. I don’t agree. Looking back can be inspirational, stirring mind and
spirit as once it was stirred by the sheer energy and imagination of earlier
years, to that sense of spirituality intrinsic to nature and human nature and
which may or may not have anything to do with religion.
True, taking stock of one's life
can be a scary business; we invariably find self and life wanting. Yet, it can
be a comfort too, reminding ourselves that we are but human and our failures
are as much down to that as our successes. It reminds us, too, that we are as
we are, live as we live…and there is time yet to open our eyes to more of the
same (and its multiple variations) before they close forever upon one
perspective at least on the art of being human.
I wrote this poem (a villanelle) in
a reflective mood on Brighton pier. As regular readers will know, I have been
going to Brighton since I was a very young child and my mother would take me
during school holidays. I will be 75 later this year so have a lot of taking
stock to do from time to time.
It is so true that
taking stock of our lives may not always be as rewarding a process as we might
like, but it can (if we let it) help us remember who we are, how we got
this far, and even (maybe) lend us the insight to right a few wrongs, make good
some mistakes, identify and work through the fears as well as the more positive life forces that drive us ...
This poem is a villanelle.
TAKING STOCK or A
SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE
On Brighton pier,
empathy with a feisty sea,
a lifetime to share
Child of yesteryear
spotted waving cheerfully
on Brighton pier
Mist starts to clear,
waves splashing excitedly,
a lifetime to share
Cloud faces as queer
as folk, smile convincingly
on Brighton pier
Listen, and I can hear
a world in perfect harmony,
a lifetime to share
Of life-death, no fear,
for engaging with positivity
on Brighton pier,
a
lifetime to share
Copyright R. N. Taber, 2005;
2018
[Note: An earlier version of this
poem appears in A Feeling for the Quickness of Time by
R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005.]
Labels: Brighton, fear, history, human nature, human spirit, imagination, inspiration, life forces, memories, mind-body-spirit, nature, personal space, poetry, positive thinking, society, spirituality, survival, Sussex, time