A Feeling for Right and Wrong

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

Another kenning today, one that has appeared on the blog before; hopefully, it will be well received, if no less likely to give readers serious food for thought than many other poems on the blogs. I am often criticised for this; a reader emailed to suggest that I should 'stick to writing nature poems and let human nature run its course without making personal comments in your poems'. Oh, but isn't all poetry a personal comment of one kind or another? Anyone who chooses to engage with a poem, engages with the writer too, and may agree to differ ... or whatever. Even so, I will try and redeem myself for this particular reader with a 'nature' poem before too long, although only in part since it will inevitably put forward a personal interpretation with which the reader is free to take or leave; his or her choice, mine too.

"Can I trust you?"  Oh, but how often do we hear whom we care about say that, and how often our heart sinks for wondering what burden they are poised to place upon us! Keeping secrets, whatever the motive behind it, can take a huge toll on our well-being, put our mental if not physical health at risk. While needing to share a secret is invariably understandable in many if not most cases, it is also a very selfish demand to make on anyone, especially if it concerns a mutual friend or loved one. Yet we all do it, time and again.

A few years ago, someone confided that a mutual friend had discovered a lump on her breast, but did not want her partner to know until she had decided what, if anything, to do about it. Obviously, she needed to seek medical advice immediately, and as her partner was as good friend of mine, I was placed in an impossible position in so far as I was damned if I betrayed the confidence, damned if I didn't. As it turned out,she sought neither medical advice nor treatment until it was too late, and subsequently died; with hindsight, I regret not breaking that particular trust, and it weighs on my conscience to this day. 

We often hear that 'a problem shared is a problem halved' and there is a great deal of truth in that. Even so, I have been careful since not to agree to keep a trust that is likely to put me at odds with my conscience, making this clear whenever I hear someone ask if they can 'trust' me.

In the course of a mental breakdown many years ago, I had only a vague sense of a warning voice trying to force an entry into the deaf-blind mind-body-spirit that was my dissolving consciousness. Yes, it failed, but my subsequent recovery, although it took a few years, owes much to its finally succeeding.

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”- Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“If all the world hated you and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved of you and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.” - Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre 

A FEELING FOR RIGHT AND WRONG

I am everyone's friend,

invariably on hand,

yet not always easy to find

for human nature

being fickle, to say the least, 

while I am only inclined

to settle for its best

if often a (very) reluctant guest

at ... whatever

They seek me here, there,

and everywhere,

always in demand, no matter

singer or song,

meant to justify whatever end,

right or wrong,

depending on whose view

takes priority, with whom society 

put at odds ...

I appeal to the kinder side

of a common humanity,

asking but injustice pay it dues,

no more excuses,

(take your pick, no going back);

par for any course depending

on my reputation lending its weight

to any deputation

Though doubters argue my presence,

trust me, an ally called Conscience

Copyright R.N. Taber 2019