Lullaby for a Fractious Child
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
A college lecturer has contacted me to say he enjoys some of the stories my poems tell but I should write more 'real' poetry.
So what, I ask myself is 'real' poetry? Whatever...I am as I am, and I write as I write. Many people seem to enjoy my poems and that's good enough for me; at least they are real. As for my critics... [Do I care? Better to be read and found wanting than never read at all. I can't and don't expect every reader to like every poem as I write in many voices, and one reader's pleasure may well not be to another's taste at all. C'est la vie. ]
Meanwhile...
Modern life can be hassle, hassle, and more hassle. Thank goodness for nature and its various retreats from t modern life it offers. I live in Kentish Town, a district of London that is close to Hampstead Heath, the Regent’s Canal and the Regent’s Park. I love them all but especially love strolling on the Heath and enjoying the feeling that I could well be a million miles from the heart of one of the world’s frantically busy cities. London may have lots of cultural treasures to enjoy but without its natural retreats living here would be unbearable.
I would hate to see these retreats and all those like them across this sorry world of ours end up in the hands of property developers. They are, for many of us, a lifeline. Killing off nature is tantamount to manslaughter if not cold-blooded murder.
A college lecturer has contacted me to say he enjoys some of the stories my poems tell but I should write more 'real' poetry.
So what, I ask myself is 'real' poetry? Whatever...I am as I am, and I write as I write. Many people seem to enjoy my poems and that's good enough for me; at least they are real. As for my critics... [Do I care? Better to be read and found wanting than never read at all. I can't and don't expect every reader to like every poem as I write in many voices, and one reader's pleasure may well not be to another's taste at all. C'est la vie. ]
Meanwhile...
Modern life can be hassle, hassle, and more hassle. Thank goodness for nature and its various retreats from t modern life it offers. I live in Kentish Town, a district of London that is close to Hampstead Heath, the Regent’s Canal and the Regent’s Park. I love them all but especially love strolling on the Heath and enjoying the feeling that I could well be a million miles from the heart of one of the world’s frantically busy cities. London may have lots of cultural treasures to enjoy but without its natural retreats living here would be unbearable.
I would hate to see these retreats and all those like them across this sorry world of ours end up in the hands of property developers. They are, for many of us, a lifeline. Killing off nature is tantamount to manslaughter if not cold-blooded murder.
LULLABY
FOR A FRACTIOUS CHILD
In a
dream I lay in Earth Mothers arms
as we
watched the world passing by,
gladly
surrendering to the mixed charms
of a
tearful twilight’s ages-old lullaby
We saw
fair Apollo turn the grass brown,
humanity
and beast alike starve and die,
Poseidon
cause even his acolytes to drown,
whose
wells and streams already run dry
We
witnessed such blind grief and despair
as the
Grim Reaper lets drop in his wake,
wept to
see how our loved-ones might fare,
made to
run the gamut for life’s own sake
Waking, I
let Earth Mother wipe my tears,
words of
a peace song ringing in my ears
Copyright
R. N. Taber 2010, 2019
[Note:
This poem has been slightly revised from the version that appears in On
the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
Labels: climate change, conservation, dreams, human nature, human spirit, imagination, mind-body-spirit, nature, past-present-future. time, peace, personal space, poetry, progress, relationships, society
posted by R. N. Taber | 09:40
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