http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
A reader writes, how can you write poetry when the
world is being devastated and left bereft by COVID-19? I am not sure if this is
meant as criticism or compliment so will take it as both. Well, it
isn’t easy, even at the best of times, to compose a
poem that attempts to strike a balance between a celebration of nature
and human nature while also acknowledging their flaws.
Given that the
Here-and-Now in the shape of COVID-19 is probably among the worst of times ever for many of us, the task
has felt all but Herculean; it has taken several days of writing and rewriting
to arrive at the poem below. Hopefully, most readers will get a sense of the
spirit of optimism in which it was written, but as we all know, you can please
some of the people some of the time but never all the people all the time …
Whatever, fingers crossed …
Another reader comments, “… it feels like we are
heading for Armageddon.” Well, I take
his or her point, but beg to differ. I have had my fair share of ups and downs
in life, and if the experience has taught me nothing else, it has shown me the
power of positive thinking.
Never underestimate the human spirit, neither its
natural resourcefulness nor its compassion; we may well find ourselves at the
edge of some transcendental abyss from time to time, but the human spirit will
always lend us the strength to resist diving into it if we can but touch base.
Never easy, and sometimes we fail; it has worked, for me - albeit more
subconsciously than consciously - more than once, but especially when I had a
bad nervous breakdown in my early 30’s and attempted suicide. (I will be 75 later this year.)
To date, I know of only one friend who has died of a
COVID-19 related illness; we played together as children, lost touch for years
and found each other again online a few years ago. Every death is a tragedy for
family and friends left behind. At the
same time, I am reminded of something a teacher at my old school back in the
1950’s told the class: “Love and friendship never dies, not only for remaining
a part of us all our lives, but also for that part of them in us being passed
on in ways and to people we may never know … and so it goes on. A university
lecturer would later refer to it as a posthumous consciousness to which, as
regular readers will know, I often make reference in my blogs and poems.
Remembrance is no compensation for loss, but I have
always found it a great comfort to sense that no one’s life has ever been in
vain since we all make a positive contribution even if we don’t always realise
it. [Some readers may get a greater sense of my mindset here from my reading of
my poem, ‘The Enchanted Wood’ @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGCv54LM4yo ]
I am not a religious person, and consider myself a pantheist. Nor do I believe that religion has a monopoly on spirituality. In the sense that I try to give the human spirit a voice in my poems, hopefully they express something of the spirituality with which I invariably engage as I write them.
Wishing you all love and peace, whoever and wherever
you are in the world,
Hugs,
Roger
L-I-F-E, SEASONS IN TIME AND (PERSONAL) SPACE
Spring
arrives, offering all nature
and
human nature a time to nurture
and
flower, making such promises
as
it craves will see our lives spread joy
on
our graves
Summer
comes, offering all nature
and
human nature a time to give senses
their
head, deck humanity with love
and
peace, see any living nemeses left
for
dead
Autumn
comes, reworking all nature
by
winds and rain enough to blow away
its
debris, imploring mind-body-spirit
remain
free before winter dares impose
captivity
Winter
comes, nature, so eerily quiet
but
for redbreast, forever making the best
of
the worst, coaxing the human heart
into
the Spirit of Stoicism, living metaphor
for
its heroism
Nature and human nature, deserving
a time to come,
go, rest, and come again
in light and dark,
each in its turn,
a measure of life
and death, come ultimate
Harvest Home
Copyright R N.
Taber, 2020
[Note: As requested by several readers, this poem will appear in my next collection 'Addressing the Art of Being Human' that I am working on now.]