Rising Above White Noise OR Peace-and-Quiet, Life Force

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

“Silence is a source of great strength.” Lao Tzu

“Silence is of different kinds and breathes different meanings.” – Charlotte Bronte

“We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness and selfishness.” Booker T. Washington

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin

“What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.” Helen Keller

“I daresay some would never get their eyes opened if it were not for a violent shock from the consequences of their own actions.” - George Eliot 

We all live in worrying times. Here in the UK it's not only not only the rising cost of living, but also as to whether or not an already under-staffed and over-stretched NHS can cope should the Covid-19 pandemic return to previous devastating levels. We also have a new prime minister. whose plans are far from clear as to what she has in mind to help steer us through it all.

Whatever lies in store for any of  us as we pass through autumn into winter, the average man and woman in the street has little control over any of it. This, alone, can cause high levels of frustration, even anger, sufficient even to make some people violent.

It is no coincidence, surely, that levels of domestic and street violence have risen in recent times?

As if this wasn’t enough, it would appear that climate change, too, is closing in on us faster than anyone anticipated.

We can but do our best to make a positive contribution, however great or small, and try to keep the peace within ourselves and between each other; a positive thinking mindset has to be as good a start as any, yes?

YES! 

RISING ABOVE WHITE NOISE or PEACE-AND-QUIET, LIFE FORCE

A frantic drumming in the head,
blood pressure rising,

mixed emotions driving a mist

all but blinding me

to all that’s threatening me,

but putting me on guard

against an unknown enemy I must defeat

though I stumble at every drumbeat

Sick at heart, weary of a world

whose burdens all but

crushing me, mind-body-spirit

left in so many pieces,

small chance of reconstruction,

such commotion in me

leaving me cloth-eared to a voice

growing fainter, yet screaming all the while

from a terror-struck heart-and-soul

Suddenly, all drumming ceases

the strangest silence 

inviting me to embrace it, ask of it

all questions, listen out

to a heart-and-soul inscribing words

of love, peace, kindness

and other secrets of survival on walls 

of an inner sanctum beyond even imagination,

commanding all my attention

Such is the spiritual nature of silence to enlighten,

if we but stop, look, listen and… learn

 Copyright R. N. Taber 2022

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

 

 

All at Sea OR A-n-g-r-y

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

Regular readers will know that I often write about ghosts and I've  recently received several emails on the subject.

For a start, I have seen ghosts although, yes, that may well have been simply my imagination in overdrive. Even so, I firmly believe that the human psyche comprises passions enough to make itself felt at any point in time.

Each in our own way, we leave a footprint on the passage of time for others to follow or simply observe, examine, reach (debatable) conclusions and act accordingly as and when they may (or may not) so choose. Inspiration lies in whatever it is someone somewhere - in the distant or recent past (not necessarily ours) – may have sad and/or done; thereby making their presence felt. It is this ‘felt presence’ that embraces us. We, in turn, pass it on, perhaps without each realising it, by way of a chance remark or observation; past and present contriving to affect the future while, again, not necessarily our own.

And so it goes on, each of us making history in our own way whether incidentally or by design, not infrequently left feeling all at sea by the intensity of time’s continuum.

This poem is a villanelle.

ALL AT SEA or A-N-G-R-Y

Distant voices come to haunt me

(how long must I turn a deaf ear?)

like angry waves on a stormy sea

World, acknowledging poverty

(conscience seeing its way clear?)

distant voices come to haunt me

Where ghosts, my only company,

(riding white horses into my fear)
like angry waves on a stormy sea 

Dark forces, rolling back history

(one for every human being’s tear)

distant voices come to haunt me

Raging genius at life’s raw artistry

(hidden persuaders, politics of fear)

like angry waves on a stormy sea

Storm clouds but feeding anxiety,

(Earth Mother’s intentions unclear)

distant voices come to haunt me

like angry waves on a stormy sea

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007

Positive Thinking (Getting the Better of Dark Forces)

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

[Update (Nov 7, 2016): Readers sometimes get in touch to ask just how positive t thinking person I am. Suffice to say perhaps that, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011 and treated with hormone therapy ever since, I still take a leaf out of Monty Python's book by always looking on the bright side of life. Indeed, I have opened a Just Giving page to help raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK with a poetry reading in London next year, and am optimistic that I will continue to elude the Grim Reaper long enough to deliver: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Roger-Taber ]

Now, many of us have experienced hard times since the credit crunch began to bite and may well continue to do so for some time yet.

Recalling happier times can make us feel worse…until we pause to remember that what goes around comes around.

Happy memories are reminders of what we can look forward to again. Things won’t be the same, of course. Nothing stays the same for long, but develops and matures just as we do…for all life’s ups and downs along the way.

Now, the heart may well be familiar with an autumn that turned into winter far too soon for its liking, burying memories of its finest summers under layers of sadness and longing. Ah, yes, but we can always look forward to another spring, nature bursting with the joys of life and music, inspiring us to go with its flow, recover poor, damaged hope along the way, and set about the task of making it whole again. Besides, memory knows better than to ever (quite) let go of better days even during the worst of times.

I guess we just have to allow for hard times by ensuring we pave ole Memory Lane with more than enough good times to compensate…

[Did I say it was easy?]

This poem is a villanelle.

POSITIVE THINKING (GETTING THE BETTER OF DARK FORCES)

Where angry winds blow
scary smoke rings,
a bold spirit, too, may go

Harvest home, we know
but sadness brings
where angry winds blow

Where naked fear on show
(peasantry among kings?)
a bold spirit, too, may go

Nature, daring us to follow
(dove or hawk’s wings?)
where angry winds blow

Where too few flowers grow
as dark winter clings,
a bold spirit, too, may go

Bonding with a late swallow,
of spring, a robin sings…
Where angry winds blow,
a bold spirit, too, may go


Copyright R. N. Taber 2009; 2016

Listening Out for Kindness OR The Other Side of Silence

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

Some days, it can feel as if we are falling apart; everything goes wrong or at least not according to plan and listening or reading to the daily News extends that sense of falling apart to the world itself; it and we, it seems, are in free fall ...

Whatever happened to kindness, we may well wonder? Suddenly, we hear or read about a simple act of kindness that touches the heart, restores our sense of being part of something worthwhile even if that worthwhile-ness is vulnerable to attack from extreme forces that have no place in in a world where love, peace, tolerance and kindness are seen as strengths not weaknesses, and just because these are elements of human nature with which we will almost certainly always have to contend doesn’t mean to say we cannot win our own personal war against them if not every battle. 

A teacher who was well-liked but considered eccentric, once told a noisy class, ‘Shut up, the lot of you! Now, listen to the silence. Yes, listen to the silence. The chances are it’s an angry one, at the very least frustrated. And what’s on the other side, eh? Kindness, that’s what, a whole new world to which the inner ear will lead any one of us who can be bothered to listen out and head for it.’ For a whole minute, you could have heard a pin drop, and then we pressed on with the lesson, about which I recall nothing, 50+ years later, but that silence. 

'Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.' - Henry James

LISTENING OUT FOR KINDNESS or THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE

There is a darkness

that is not night, but an absence

of light

in a space that is no vacuum,

but filled

with all the sound and fury

of an alarm clock

ticking towards a clapping of hands

in applause

for a sorry world’s falling

to pieces

There is a silence

that is not quiet, but an absence

of any sound,

freeing the senses to urge cloth ears

open up

to all the sound and fury

of unspeakable

injustices, prejudices, malpractices,

sure to cause

a sorry world’s falling

to pieces

There is a voice

that has no words, but an absence

of expression

meant to shatter the darkness,

release the silence

to all the sound and fury

of the human heart

raging against powers-that-be

setting agendas

that would see its humanity

in pieces

There is a life force

that births humankind in a stream

of consciousness

and nurtures it in the darkness

of a silence

daring the sound and fury

of human existence

to find a voice, make itself heard

with the resonance

of a kindness sure to piece us

together

Copyright R. N. Taber 2015

Reflections on the Darker Side of Human Nature

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

[Update (Sept 4, 2016) A perceptible rise in hate crime against EU and other migrants in parts of the UK since the Brexit vote is as disturbing as it is appalling; another modern tragedy perpetrated by a significant but vocal minority along with racism and homophobia. Even intolerance of elderly and disabled people is not unheard of in this sorry world of ours While some prejudices are ingrained in certain socio-cultural-religious conventions, others merely service a warped ego; all need to be weeded out, and will be, but not in my lifetime, I fear.]

From time to time (or perhaps more often these days?) stress rears its ugly head and tempers become frayed. We can try and recognise the signs and stay calm, but that's easier said than done. 

Too often, we say things we don’t mean in a temper or, if we do mean them, we probably shouldn’t have said them. If the worst comes to the worst, all we can do is apologise and try and make peace. As my late mother used to say, if your head is too big to apologise, your mind is too small for it.

With some people, of course, the damage done is irreparable but that isn’t always a bad thing. Having let rip with anger, it can sometimes bring a welcome sense of relief, especially when it targets those among us with whom it is impossible to talk things through. If it gives the person with whom we have lost our temper food for thought, so much the better and we should accept any genuine olive branch gracefully. However, some people are too self-centred to concede that it takes two to make a quarrel and two to make it up. They prefer to hug their grievances to them, relating them to all and sundry as a means to gaining an invariably undeserved sympathy vote.

By the way, I speak from personal experience. When I was younger I would put up with ‘friends’ (and family) treating me badly because I knew they didn’t necessarily mean it. Even so, most would run a mile rather than sit down and talk things through. Once I turned sixty, I decided life is too short and time too precious to waste on people like that.

“Angry people are not always wise.” - Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

This poem is kenning.

REFLECTIONS ON THE DARKER SIDE OF HUMAN NATURE 

I watch you, though from shadows,
and you know I am there yet choose
to ignore me, hoping I will go away
but it’s my choice to stay, observe
the way you walk, talk, seeing how
you react to what others do or say,
assessing your hurt by scratch marks
of the queerest designs you pass off
as laughter lines

I follow you about wherever you go
and you would be rid of my company
yet dare not face me with all the facts
I have gleaned over years of grooming
you for my own ends. Any resistance
is futile, though I grow apprehensive
when you mix with others who would
usurp my place, take you for their own,
share love’s crown

Years pass, and now we walk together
and you dare not say ‘no’ to passing
into the shadows with me for have I not
watched over you as I would a child?
Where can the light of the world take us
but among regrets and betrayal, along
tracks made by paper tigers that belong
here, where only leafy skies have shed
tears for centuries

I hold the hand writing history’s next page,
and am called Rage

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2018

[Note: This poem first appears under the title 'The Savage' in On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010; rev. title 5/18]