A Virtuous Irony

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

Now, every religion has its own Belief while some of us cannot believe in (any) religion.

Who’s to say who’s right or wrong?

Should we not give everyone the benefit of the doubt, each going his or her own way while taking care to share the better, kinder, principles of a common humanity? Some religions treat any diversion from its dogma as a cardinal sin. Whatever happened to that freedom of the human spirit to express itself in its own way, and who has the right to condemn someone for acting in good faith if not within dogma's stricter parameters?

Religion is meant to be about love and peace...and mutual respect for another person's spiritual identity, whether or not it relates to the same religion or any religion at all if only because religion (as I discovered for myself even as a child) has no monopoly on spirituality.

A sense of spirituality is common to us all, just as it is down to each and every one of us to tap into it
if and how we choose. Yet, what is a cause for celebration is so often marked by those who should know better as a cause for division.

A VIRTUOUS IRONY

Religious festivals are times
people come together,
are good to one another, braving
dark and stormy weather

Religious festivals make merry
come rain, snow, winter mist,
find sunny smiles not on any list
left by old Jack Frost

But you can’t always believe
all they so love to feed us,
like comfort and joy at Christmas
(just ask the homeless)

No, you cannot always believe
everything they tell you,
be the preacher Christian, Muslim,
Sikh, Jew or Hindu…

Religion (not God) is the listener
ever turning a deaf ear
come Ramadan, Diwali, Passover
and Easter once a year

In truth, we should learn to respect
Faiths across the world,
ironically divided by a single word,
a comfort zone called ‘God’

Who and what should we believe
when so many use religion
for their own ends, as ammunition,
back-up for a safe h(e)aven?

All religions encourage suspicion,
led by Masters of Ceremony
tasked with making a virtue of irony
behind a mask of spirituality

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009; 2016

Spinning Yarns

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

As a child, I loved reading myths, legends and fairy stories. As an adult, I began to realise that many are an entertaining metaphor for real life. Even so, not all magic is wishful thinking. Yet, the same imagination that fed on those stories so long ago continues to see me through the same need for escapism some 50+ years on.

The trick, of course, lies in learning to separate fact from fiction, wishful thinking from reality, naked truth from bare-faced lies....

SPINNING YARNS

Storytellers would have us believe

that once there was magic in the world,

a time when we all sang songs

of peace and love till a twilight fell

that had us playing hide-and-seek

among ruins of halcyon days confined

to make-believe

Storytellers would have us believe

that once there was chivalry in the world,

a time when men opened doors

for ladies without their being accused

of sexism, nor would a lady mind,

but take pleasure in being noticed so,

by way, too, of common courtesy  

Storytellers would have us believe

that once there was the stoicism of Penelope

who contrived to remain faithful

to the love of her life without being accused

of pandering to her man,

rather of ingenuity for putting a unique

spin on love

Storytellers would have us believe

that the old gods were jealous of each other,

interfering in the ways of humankind

that played them at their own games and won,

tore down their temples,

created a copycat Olympus

on Capitol Hill 

Storytellers would have us believe

that once there was magic in the world,

a time when we all sang songs

of peace and love till a twilight fell

that had us playing hide-and-seek

among ruins of an innocence confined

to childhood

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011

[Note: While I never made it as a successful novelist, I confess have really enjoyed trying my hand at fiction from time to time; if interested, go to: http://rogertaberfiction.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/news-updates-fiction.html on my fiction blog where most of my novels (published and unpublished) are serialised.]

Playing Dirty, the Politics of War (and Peace)

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

It has to be one of human nature’s greater ironies that it invariably deflects the greater blame for its worst tragedies away from itself.

It is called politics.

It is probably fair to say, though, that most if not all of us are no less guilty sometimes than those who tread the Corridors of Power.

PLAYING DIRTY, THE POLITICS OF WAR (AND PEACE)

Last seen standing on the edge of war,

strutting bravery, dreaming of glory,

no conception of carnage gone before,

rewriting, in blood, a nation’s story

Heads high, eager to answer duty’s call,

faith let fly in the wind, flags unfurled,

no one suspecting how many might fall,

prayers unanswered around the world

Victory (as ever) fell on time’s sword,

eleventh hour, day, month, 1918;

no action-replay, we gave them our word,

only to break it again and again…

Heroes, on Time's sword called upon to fall
for the sake of Peace and Goodwill (to all?)

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007; 2018

[Note: Revised (2016) version of a poem that  appears under the title 'The Rhetoric of Blame' in   Accomplices to Illusion, by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007; revised ed. in e-format in preparation.]