A Nature Lover's Diary

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

All my life I have been both fascinated and appalled by the way nature and human nature have so much in common in terms of natural beauty and an inclination for violence; we may well put the latter down to the survival of the fittest, but does that make it right and if so, right for whom? Not the rabbit pounced upon by a fox or the fox ripped to pieces by hounds nor the mentally ill taunted to distraction by an ill-informed society or the elderly person similarly deprived of due care because they are considered expendable …

A teacher once put to the whole class that nature and human nature have more in common than most of us would care to admit; no one responded. Even so, it still rings as true as it did to a 16 year-old wannabe poet all those years ago.

A NATURE LOVER'S DIARY

Watched, such living woods at night,

as hear nightingales sing, watch
blackbirds to the nest homeward fly,

a shooting star prick an owl’s wing,

even trees sweeping stars from the sky;

Seen, a hare outrunning a fox, a badger 
outwit its baiting (now and then),

moles defying blindness, bats come out
to play, fireflies dissembling, Man
in the Moon descending to snuggle up 
to a sleeping swan;

Walked, the same living woods by day,

released rabbits caught in cruel  traps,

seen poachers retrieve,would bag more,
but for the flapping of Time on wing;
Witnessed, a fox catching up with its prey,
ripping it to pieces, redcoats with dogs

bred to set up a kill for the sheer fun of it
while those in authority turn deaf ears
to animal rights protesters, marking us all
for nuisance creatures, media ever homing in
for all the wrong reasons

Nature, humanity, come owl's cry or lark's lay,
but prey to winds of the day ...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2016

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title ' A Nature Lover’s Dream’ in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007.]

Walls, among 'live' Metaphors

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

We often hear talk of moral courage, and it is to be applauded, but standing up for what we believe in is not always the same as standing up for the rights of everyone in the same corner we are fighting. The recent shutdown of the U.S. Government over funding for a wall across the border with Mexico, the continuing impasse at Stormont in Northern Ireland and the Brexit fiasco in the British Parliament are but a few examples of how our so-called ‘betters’ should not lead by example.

Meanwhile ...

Parents in West Yorkshire, UK, came up against another such wall only recently.  Kirklees Council debated the supply of non-stun halal meat to 43 schools. in West Yorkshire; this, after receiving a petition of almost 8,000 parents expressing concern over animal welfare. Various councillors - including  Green Party members who voted with Labour colleagues - sided with the pro-cruelty lobby on the grounds that it supports diversity. Perhaps they can explain what diversity has to do with either animal welfare ... or freedom of choice, such as so far denied the schoolchildren concerned?

In most if not all cases of intransigence across the  whole spectrum of issues plaguing various societies worldwide, where there's a will there is invariably a way; it is called compromise. Sadly, where compromise means having to agree to differ and act for the better of all rather than some (or self) this puts 'will' in a position too many of our so-called 'betters' are unwilling to accept.

This poem is a villanelle.

WALLS, AMONG 'LIVE' METAPHORS

At a wall dripping blood and tears
find world democracies' sins well-met,
live metaphor for the world’s fears

Where true democracy disappears,
political ambition refuting its social debt
at a wall dripping blood and tears

Wherever love-and-peace, it veers
away, find agents conspiring to thwart;
live metaphor for the world fears

Divisions perpetuated for years
driven further apart since last ill-met
at a wall dripping blood and tears

Where time’s kinder mist clears,
discern guards with orders to shoot on sight;
live metaphor for the world’s fears

It's Freedom’s fair head that rears,
to debate any socio-cultural-religious tenet
at a wall dripping blood and tears,
live metaphor for the world’s fears

Copyright R N Taber 2019