Shadows across the Sun

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“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

 

 

In the Face of One--eyed Jacks

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Since the early days of the so-called Arab Spring, civil war has caused untold suffering to the Syrian population. Anti-government protests had been ongoing in the Syrian city of Hama since March 2011, when large protests broke out in the city, similar to others elsewhere. In July, the Government sent the Syrian Army into Hama to control protests on the eve of Ramadan, often referred to as the ‘Ramadan Massacre.’

Ever since, both security forces and “rebels” have carried out numerous large-scale operations, resulting in mass executions, killings, arrests, kidnappings and torture across Syria. Many families and elderly people are suffering above all from the shortage of electricity, water and lack of food/ medical supplies; frequently they no longer have a home. There are blackouts several times during the day, and gasoline is rationed. No one knows when or where the next bomb will fall.

There has to be a diplomatic solution although the neutral observer may well feel prompted to ask  whether - in the murky world of politics - that old saying, ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’ is not more aptly applied to expediency than to will … on anyone’s part? If inhumanity is a vicious circle, it is one that's drawn and expanded by human beings.

This poem is a villanelle.

IN THE FACE OF ONE-EYED JACKS

Watch inhumanity boxing clever

as the toll of dead and injured grows;

world’s cyclopean eye on Syria

As face-saving excuses endeavour

to explain away as its politics allows,

watch inhumanity boxing clever

Freedom, a dirty word, all the surer

for (ever) wiping its poor bloody nose;

world’s cyclopean eye on Syria

A century’s children living in terror,

all innocence cheated of its tomorrows,

watch inhumanity boxing clever

No stranger to either war or massacre,

(cue for United Nations to strike a pose)

world’s cyclopean eye on Syria

May humanity yet endure, be the leader

sheer common sense alone sure to choose;

watch inhumanity boxing clever,

world’s cyclopean eye on Syria …

London: April 2018

Copyright R N. Taber 2018 

[Note: A cyclops is described in ancient Greek and Roman mythology as from a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the centre of the forehead; the word "cyclops" literally means "round-eyed" or "circle-eyed".  – Wikipedia]

Human Spirit, the Hand that Rocks the Cradle

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By now readers will know the so-called Arab Spring (2010) has left those countries involved no better if not worse off than before. Well, that's world politics for you...

Civil war has all but broken out in Libya yet People Power continues to make its voice heard across North Africa and the Middle East, ordinary men and women desperate for democratic reform and risking their lives for it.  The human spirit is strong if vulnerable, proving time and time again that it can and will rise above tragedy.  Perhaps, though, if more Western politicians even half understood Middle East politics and neither side did not always assume they know best...

Nature and human nature, they give and they take away. Perhaps, though, if it were even just a shade less inclined to reflex actions that demand it bite the hand that feeds it, humankind might yet find itself in better shape to prevent itself going to the dogs of war that have haunted its every step since the beginning of time...?

The poem first appeared in Poetry Monthly International (2010) and subsequently in my collection.

HUMAN SPIRIT, THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE

There’s a hand that caresses the first buds of spring

and bids them grow;

it moves among summer corn in time for harvesting

by courtesy of Apollo

Where autumn’s leaves making ready for its turning,

it bestows a blessing;

when winter brings us to our knees, of life despairing,

it beckons us to spring

Where we run the gamut of love, hate, peace and war,

find, too, Earth Mother;

let Her fair hand caress and smooth the troubled brow

or we destroy each other

The question arises, dare we bite the hand that feeds us

and face the consequences

or do we accept it in a spirit of goodwill to all humanity,

put aside our differences?

Beware, or the hand that rocks the cradle may let it drop,

our world broken or worse;

needs must, we learn to read the hand that’s writing us up,

go back to school or else... 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2016

[Note: An earlier version of this poem was first published in Poetry Monthly International, February 2010 and subsequently Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012.]

Plight of the Yazidis OR Another Bloody Stain on the Landscape of Religion

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[Update: May 2018:The plight of the Yazidi people continues...]

[Update: November 15th 2015: The Yazidi people continue to suffer indescribable atrocities at the
hands of the cowardly murderers calling themselves Islamic State. Iraqi Kurds have retaken Sinjar from IS so there is light at the end of the tunnel for this minority group, at least for now. Out hearts go out to them and hopes that these I S psychopaths will eventually be wiped from the face of the earth as they deserve.]

Tens of thousands of Yazidis - mostly women and children - were forced to flee to Mount Sinjar, in north-west Iraq when the militant Islamic State (formerly ISIS) recently overran the Sinjar region.

The Yazidis have been surrounded by the militants for days in blistering heat, and with little food or water. Many have died. Thanks to the actions of the Kurdish peshmerga forces and US air strikes targeting the militants, many have now been able to cross into Syria and return to Kurdistan, but many others remain trapped. 

There have been reports of anyone refusing to convert to Islam being summarily executed by Islamic State, taken into slavery, and even buried alive.

All religious fundamentalists are a disgrace to their religion and to humanity. When will they ever learn...?

[Update, May 3rd 2015: Thousands of Yazidi men, woman and children have been massacred by so-called 'Islamic State' in northern Iraq.  Yet, acts of such appalling abuse against humanity and Islam continue to attract followers, especially among young, disaffected Muslims across Europe. ]

PLIGHT OF THE YAZIDIS or ANOTHER BLOODY STAIN ON THE LANDSCAPE OF RELIGION

Victims of a radical Islamic obsession

men, women and children, no safe haven,

under siege on a mountain

Misunderstood by many for centuries

(a common perception, devil worshippers)

a veil over the world’s eyes

Defiant, proud, pursued into the glare

of a sorry world’s shortcomings and media,

focusing on their terror

Islamic State (ISIS) as dark a force as evil,

rallying to a flag as black as any terror-devil

might well raise at will

World, wringing its hands at their misery,

does what it can, little enough for the Yazidi

children of the century

Islamic State, swathe of horrific obsession,

raping body, mind and spirit of a pure religion,

impregnating a generation

London, August 11th 2014

Copyright R. N. Taber 2014

Testing Times OR A World of Differences

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Losing a loved one is hard enough, but losing someone in an accident or with such suddenness that we have no time even to say goodbye has to be about as hard as it gets…

This poem was written some time ago, but in the light of the recent air tragedy in Ukraine our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims on board flight MH17, apparently shot down by a surface-to-air missile while crossing a war zone. Our hearts go out, too, to those killed during the recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I am left wondering just what kind of sick world we are living in, and is there really the socio-cultural-religious-political will among its leaders to nurse it back to health?  I guess we can but play our part in our own little corner, and trust the ripples spread...

Different people from different cultures, religions and social backgrounds will always have their differences; we should always remember that our differences do not make us different, only human and, as such, part of a common humanity.

When, oh, when, will humankind discover that peace lies in accepting that our differences do not make us so different, only human?

TESTING TIMES or A WORLD OF DIFFERENCES

You left this world

without a word, no time

to say goodbye

You left my world

cold and dark, its comforts

bitter-sweet

You left this world

before your time, its tears

making headlines

You left my world

your body, mind and spirit

to keep it sane

You left this world

its anger and grief, playing

blame games

You left my world

on the wings of a heartbeat

forever ours

We gave this world

the benefit of our worst doubts

in return for…this?

Testing times, indeed

for lovers in a world subject

to the vagaries of time

Copyright R. N. Taber 2014

Eyeless in Gaza (Revisited)

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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]

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009

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

Civilian Casualties Sidelined OR Whose War Is It...?

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We read and hear much on this or that political platform about Global Warming and the global economic downturn etc.

Considering various conflicts across the world, whatever happened to the Global Conscience?

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES SIDELINED or WHOSE WAR IS IT...?

People left homeless,
losing limbs,
civilian death toll rising,
NATO focusing
on its troop numbers

Children left orphans,
losing limbs,
dying before their time,
NATO playing
the usual blame game

Families left weeping,
losing heart,
making ends meet
as best they can,
fighting a losing battle

Media left observing
lost limbs,
civilian death toll rising,
NATO focusing
on its troop numbers

World left wondering,
why?

[From: Tracking the Torchbearer by R. NH. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012]

Peace

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Peace Rose

Of all the dreams anyone ever had, second only to love, the most beautiful if one of the saddest has to be…

PEACE

It’s a hybrid rose called Peace

that carries spring into summer,

letting its petals fall in autumn

to shield the heart from its winter

Coloured yellow, the peace rose

is for remembrance of times past;

if love, like roses, fade and die,

be sure its petals are crafted to last

At any time of year, whenever

and wherever we ache for a need

to inhale love’s heady perfume,

Peace roses, human senses, invade

Too often loved ones go to war,

never to return or, even if they do,

we too, like them, still suffer

as only humanity in winter can do

If the more ghastly realities of war

even ghosts fear, only fools suppose

its deeper roots lie but dormant

as nature sleeps and nothing grows

At such times, we must be strong,

take well-worn paths the heart knows,

for where there’s love there’s hope

and kinder summers of the Peace rose

From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010

Triumphant Voices

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For all that many of the world’s societies are sick with power, bigotry and an obsession with material things, the man and woman in the street comprise its beating heart; it is they who live in hope, keep its wheels turning every day towards a better end they may never see but whose inspiration they can at least pass on to their young people.

Our planet’s survival, and what terms, lies in the hands of our young people. (Yes, and what kind of example is the early 21^st century setting them?)

We can but trust future generations will still have the stomach for love and peace after feeding off  the predilection of early 21^st century socio-cultural-religious leaders’ for creating conflict and division, if only so they can win support (even approval) by appearing to confront it at any cost. 

This poem is a villanelle.

TRIUMPHANT VOICES 

Through terror strike fear

into the heart,

we shall (ever) persevere

Listen, and we can hear

a pop song start…

though terror strike fear

Here, there, everywhere,

lives torn apart;

we shall (ever) persevere

Listen, young voices clear,

taking our part…

though terror strike fear

Where the tragedy of war,

has peace lose out,

we shall (ever) persevere

Backstage, the arms dealer

courts political clout...

Though terror strike fear,

we shall (ever) persevere

Copyright R. N. Taber 2005; 2012

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in A Feeling for the Quickness of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005.]