A Poet's Blog: Roger N.Taber shares his thoughts & poems...

Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian and poet-novelist.- "Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Sexuality ... these are but parts of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to critical emails about my poetry. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

About Me

Name: R. N. Taber

Location: London, United Kingdom

Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.

Saturday, 19 July 2014

Eyeless in Gaza (Revisited)

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

Today’s poem as written five years ago; tragically, little or nothing has changed unless for the worse.

Surely, it is high time leaders on both sides looked to their consciences instead of their politics and worked together for a peaceful solution to this sick war?

Playing the blame game will only cost more lives.

This poem is a villanelle.

EYELESS IN GAZA (REVISITED)

Blind carnage in Gaza

(world calling for a ceasefire)

a crime against nature

Child calls for its mother

(dead before she can get there)

blind carnage in Gaza

Each side blaming the other

(but who pays the dogs of war?)

a crime against nature

Dispute dragging on forever

Its roots in geography and culture;

blind carnage in Gaza

Ordinary people fear

the rest of the world doesn’t care;

a crime against nature

Diplomacy holds the answer

(were politics but see its way clear);

blind carnage in Gaza,

a crime against nature

[London, January 8^th 2009]

[From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010; rev. ed. in e-format in preparation.]

Labels: conflict, crisis, death, Gaza, human, humanitarian, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian, life, Middle East, nature, Palestine, peace, poetry, politics, tragedy, war