At the End of the Day

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

We should always try and make the most of each day to its very end  if only because tomorrow is another story altogether; rarely more so than now as the C-19 coronavirus continues to spread across the world.

We need to make the most of the natural world, too, before humankind destroys even more swathes of it for its own convenience. While it is true that more people are waking up to their responsibilities regarding its protection, I still see people casually dropping their rubbish in the street (recyclable and otherwise) and/or leaving picnic sites strewn with the same and/or tossing plastic bottles into the sea without a thought for its marine inhabitants ...

Carpe Diem, yes, but with due care for the environment as well as ourselves and others; there is no room for complacency, assuming all will be well since there will always be someone else to make it right; that 'someone else' is no more or less than You-Me-Us, the definitive collective consciousness.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Jaded sunshine like an amber glow

after a summer shower,

logo proclaiming peace and love;

songbirds on cue;

summer, bursting with pride and joy,

wishing us kind dreams

A pink glow infiltrating grey clouds,

tips of angels’ wings

spying out the lie of borrowed time;

jet lag moon

among laid back stars fodder enough

for a wide-awake media

A grey squirrel turning over garbage

is quick to turn up its nose

at an envelope marked ‘Top Secret’;

kids trespassing a building site

find ancient skulls, bane of developers

gift to archaeology

Night falls, harbinger of sleep waiting

in the wings, time’s hopeful

understudies groomed for second best;

world’s "betters"

last seen flogging half dead horses 
with  Apollo’s  tee shirt

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

Entries in a (Human) Nature Diary

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

Many people - even some in high places who should know better - continue to insist that climate change is scaremongering, fake news or a ploy to distract the path of progress from serving certain business interest enabling  the rich to get even richer while the poor are left struggling to survive for being unable to afford either a healthy diet or take advantage of some brilliant health project to save the world. but likely to cost the earth.

There is scientific evidence- not to mention a rising human death toll -  that global weather patterns  are changing, yet still we hear views along the lines of "That may well be the case, but there's nothing much I can do about it. Let someone else take responsibility, politicians for example.They are elected to serve out best interests so...let them get on with it and see us all safe rather than sorry."

Nothing you or I can do about it? On our own, no, but if people were actively encouraged to play their parts, this sorry world of ours just might be in with an even chance of surviving the worst. Don't we owe it to future generations to make sure they have a future, for goodness sake? I hear religious people saying we should not worry because, whatever happens, this or that dogma assures us God will see us right. Wrong. While I do not subscribe to any religion, nor can I envisage any God seeing humankind right for (largely) choosing to justify its own wrongs along the lines of "Oh, well, that's life."

Me? I do what I can, and yes, it is nowhere near enough, but if everyone did what they could that would make a real difference. As it is, many people don't even bother to recycle properly even where their Local Authority provides the means. Car engines are left running, while their owners shop at stores within easy walking distance from where they live. Whatever happened to walking, by the way, just for the pleasure of it? As someone with mobility problems so need a walking stick, I really miss it. Mind you, the stick appears to be invisible to the push 'n' shove brigade whether I am walking or using public transport. Or maybe they are right, after all, who tell us - that's life...?

Hamlet battles with his conscience in the famous soliloquy, 'To be or not to be...'. Dare I suggest, Do or Die, that is the question with which the human race needs must wrestle with its conscience?

Oh, but enough said, I suspect, if not more than enough of a rant for one post...

ENTRIES IN A (HUMAN) NATURE 

Subtle changes in autumnal light
are closing in on gardens countrywide
as the hands of its clocks
signal the passing of a lovely evening
into multifarious shades of grey

Less subtle, sounds of trudging feet
as the homeless seek a place to rest awhile
(perchance to sleep)
as clocks in the head tick off another day
of someone's battling to get a life

Darker shades of grey, closing in
on gardens countrywide, signal its birds
to sleep, leave nightingales
singing of peace and love take the strain
of falling on deaf ears

Gone black now, shades of autumn
surrendering to the dark of night, no stars
in the sky nor even a moon
able to penetrate a thick blanket of cloud,
heavens closed for repairs

No shelter available a homeless man
other than the grubby porch of a shop left
empty for several years,
profitable enough once, till business rates
demanding an unfair cut

Ah, but moon and stars forcing an entry,
not to be put to shame by such street lights
as have escaped vandals;
the homeless man being led out of the cold
by volunteer charity workers

Such unsubtle changes in day and night
as closing in on wildlife habitats worldwide,
guide the hands of its clocks,
signal a need for change, home and abroad,
before time runs out for us all

Will you take us in, old moon-with-a-grin,
make way for a new tech copycat Noah's Ark
long, long before then?
Dare a world where progress is everything,

risk being left with nothing?

Subtle changes in autumnal light close in

on gardens worldwide, the hands of clock faces

covering human eyes

that will not see, any ears that will not hear,

for fear of having to do or die

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2019

Lines on last-ditch Damage Limitation

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

Better late than never, humankind appears to be finally waking up to its responsibility to preserve as much of the natural world as it can, given the damage already inflicted upon it in the name of progress.

Let us not kid ourselves, though. Time, always determined to go its own way regardless, is not on our side. If we want to save the planet and all manner of species that have known no other habitat, we all need to pull together now;   each and every one of us doing our bit to save energy, lower carbon emissions drastically if not entirely, think Green instead of relying on others to do so, thereby easing conscience and any sense of responsibility (providing we concede either) … and, yes, we might just save a world worth living in for future generations.

Our young people and their descendants deserve better than the kind of apathy so many people in the Here-and-Now continue to exhibit towards such issues as conservation, regeneration, improving air quality and cleaning up our rivers, seas and oceans - to name just a few. As I see it, quality of life is more important than life for its own sake, and if we don’t all start showing the natural world greater respect now, future generations will be seeing red, not green, and blaming twenty-first century apathy, greed, and an egocentricity beyond belief.

I had a conversation along these lines with someone in a shop recently while queuing to be served. This person took the view that “at least old people like yourself have no cause to worry about what might happen. Even if the worst comes to the worst, you’ll be long gone.”

But I do worry, and so should we all, regardless of who we are or where in the world we live or there may well come a time when it will be too late to worry about what might happen because it already has …

LINES ON LAST-DITCH DAMAGE LIMITATION

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it takes but a butterfly caught in a ray

of sunshine to remind us that Earth Mother

is on our side, each and every minute

of each and every day, ready to give us

a hug when we need it most, remind us life

may be but a fleeting thing yet beautiful

and all the more precious and worth savouring

every moment for that

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it takes but the laughter of a child

running to its mother across home ruins

war, terror or an angry Earth Mother

may well have tried to get across a message

invariably ignored by forces intent only

on making themselves heard above any calls

for peace, love, reconciliation, agreeing to differ

in a so-divided world

In a world top-heavy with pain and grief,

it is good to wake to a dawn chorus,

provided by its birds among trees acting

as Guardians of the Earth since birth

if poorly served in return by we saboteurs

of the natural world so accustomed

to putting our needs first that we forgot

humankind needs see to co-existing responsibly

with nature or pay dearly

Listen. Hear (all) species of land, sea, and sky

demanding we live and let live … or (all) die

Copyright R. N. Taber 2019

Pleading for the Planet

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

[Update : July 30th 2019: We are still reeling from a week of very hot temperatures here in the UK, worse in other parts of Europe. Naturally, people have rushed to the seaside. However, there is no excuse for the appalling state of some  beaches - litter strewed as far as the eye can see - where those responsible simply could not be bothered to take it home and dispose of it there or at least wait until they could find a litter bin. Whatever happened to social conscience? We are polluting our seas, killing off and causing pain to sea creatures who, sadly, have no say in the matter. Until we all start acting more responsibly, it is not only climate change that will damage civilization as we know it, possibly if not probably beyond repair.]

Many if not most of us take nature for granted and use it to our own advantage at every opportunity as if we have every right to do so.

Meanwhile, I suspect Earth Mother whispers much the same in many an inner ear. Ah, but, hey, anyone listening…? Whose conscience pricking them for taking social responsibility so lightly, if at all?

Who is the guardian of whom, I wonder? We of nature or nature of us? Better, surely, that we work with rather than against each other...?

PLEADING FOR THE PLANET

Listen to the rain

telling tales on people

killing each other

Listen to the trees

telling tales on people
disrespecting them

Listen to the birds

telling tales on people

shooting them down

Listen to the fishes

telling tales on people

poisoning the seas

Listen to the worms

telling tales on people

doctoring the soil

Listen to the wind

telling tales of people

on borrowed time

Listen to the people

pleading for the planet

before it’s too late

Copyright R. N. Taber 2015

Global Warnings

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

Most if not all of us fancy we see hear voices in the wind from time to time,. Maybe we should  pause and make time to listen...  

Fanciful, you say?  Yes, of course, but sometimes what we digest can do us a whole lot of good…so long as we can keep it down  rather than throw it up because we feel guilty for fancying it in the first place. It is high time we treated the natural world with the respect it deserves, not as a communal rubbish bin; nor killing vanishing species, for whatever reason, without putting safeguards in place to ensure their survival. Humankind has a collective responsibility towards all nature or Earth Mother will take the ultimate revenge, and it may well be the likes of you and me will not be found among any survivors 

GLOBAL WARNINGS

Listen to the rain

telling tales on people

running for cover

Listen to the trees

telling tales on people.

cutting to the quick

Listen to the birds

telling tales on people

shooting them down

Listen to the fishes

telling tales on people

poisoning the seas

Listen to the worms

telling tales on people

doctoring the soil

Listen to the wind

telling tales of people

on life support

Listen to the people

marching for the planet

while we still can

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

Weeping Ozone, Sleepwalking World

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

[Update July 29th 2019: The world s beginning to wake up to the threat of climate change. Better late than never, although some pf its major players (like US President Donald Trump, to name just one continue to insist it is fake news. Let's all hope it is not too late for future generations.] RT

It is GOOD that (at last!) the world is starting to take climate change seriously, and accepting some responsibility for it. Even so, I can’t help thinking it is too little too late…especially as humankind is, on the whole, inclined to put its immediate needs first; immediate, but often (well) above and beyond the basics. Food, shelter and affordable housing are constantly put at risk by corporate greed funded by the wealthy intent upon getting wealthier and supported by the kind of back-door politics at which so many politicians excel.

There are, of course, a lot of good people out there if outnumbered by the bad. (The expression, 'the smile on the face of a tiger' springs to mind…)

It will be down to future generations to make the best (or worst, as the case may be) of the mess we have made and  continue to make of our planet with whatever resources available and, hopefully, a generous dose of sound common sense.

Whatever happened to priorities? It is bad enough that many people continue to bury their heads in the sand and pretend global warming is a fiction. How a significant number of those same people can continue to rage against gay relationships, for example, while playing down if not ignoring what has to be one of the greatest threats to the human race we will ever face is beyond my comprehension.

WEEPING OZONE, SLEEPWALKING WORLD

Terror in the sky, likely to bring
about the destruction of our planet;
rivers run dry, poisoned plants,
beasts of the wild starved of a will
to live, birds of the air unable
to take wing, too weak to sing even;
fishes in the sea, last to survive
nature’s very own Armageddon,
no end of tears in the ozone

Fear enough to melt glaciers,
seed mountains, valleys, urban oases
of wishful thinking among
fortune hunters quick to seize the day,
make a killing for profit (or kicks)
in human as well as animal trade-offs,
heart sleeves of the best cloth,
faux promises dead in the water,
potential eulogy for humanity

Panic in forests stripped of trees
meant to protect us in mean streets,
 androids forced to their knees
by silicon gods competing to be first
to clone eternity, any semblance
of morality but a vainglorious sterility
glossing over forsworn obligations
to generations left rummaging nature
for crumbs of survival

To the earth, a relentless rush of pain
its peoples shrug off as acid rain

Copyright R. N. Taber 2014; 2018

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in The Third Eye: poems by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004 under the title 'Under Threat'; rev title 2018.]

Suggestions

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

There is much wrong with the world, and the planet itself is screaming a warning.

So what are we going to do about it?

Dare I suggest that we need a least one leader with real vision and a commitment to it that others might follow? Whatever, we all have a responsibility to future generations to act NOW before it is too late.

SUGGESTIONS

They suggest we try and save garden creatures

and ocean whales before it’s too late

They suggest our luxury choices are sure to leave

the generation of 3000 with none

They suggest parents are scared of their children

and raising monsters

They suggest religious leaders pay more attention

to compassion than division

They suggest politicians aren’t listening to those

who put them there

They suggest our multicultural societies are failing

themselves and each other

They suggest we start learning the lessons wars

should have taught us

They suggest we’re but living will and testament

of a dying planet

So who are they, daring to suggest humankind look

to its shortcomings?

Among leafy choirs, anxious waves, nature’s children

rehearse this world’s passing

  

[From: Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Book 2007]