Running the Gauntlet OR The Undefeated

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

As it deepens, despair takes us into the very heart of human darkness. There may well be a pinprick of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, but sometimes it is no more than a blur. Yet, if we can manage to focus even for just an instant, the blur becomes a lantern that will guide us back into the daylight and sunshine of what we laughingly call ‘normal’ life. After so many years of being made to feel bad about being gay, ana subsequently in and out if the damn closet like a jack-in-the-box, I was finally close to enlightenment. Yes, being gay was OK.

I made tough bit inspiring this journey in my early 30’s (I am in my 70's now) and it is the closest I have ever come to experiencing an epiphany. Where I had once sought but never found any comfort or inspiration in religion, a drowning mind-body-spirit  sensed and reached out to a spirituality in the nature of all things reassuring me that Earth Mother had not given up on me, and I must not give up on myself.

 RUNNING THE GAUNTLET or THE UNDEFEATED

Eyes glowing in a premature darkness

like cat’s eyes on a loping highway in a storm,

padding its way with stealth and guile,

brushing giant leaf and fern in Brobdingnag

concrete jungle spread all around;

wings of steel pitted against natural instinct;

dirt tracks strewn with primeval litter,

secret paths to Earth Mother’s hand written

poetry and prose

Hear the lion roar, rearing and pawing

at the sky, unbowed by heaven’s wary eye;

flashes like daggers at Caesar’s back,

taking the Beast through its paces till it drops;

apes swinging here and there,

mock a weary lion but taking care to steer

well clear, avoiding confrontation

else a feast of claws devour even salvation,

torn pages of Darwin

Ah, but let the Beast rest while it may;

hunters and hunted will find each other out

soon enough, about to discover

what (if any) creature can match us

eye for eye, tooth for tooth,

and for whom the wind composes a eulogy

where darkest poetry and prose read,

old gods (and new) mocking our inability

to understand a word

Tunnel caving in, barely a pin-prick of light;

human spirit, running the gauntlet...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2016

[Note: Revised (2016) from an earlier version that appears under the title ‘Heart of Darkness’ in 1st eds of The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004; revised ed. in e-format in preparation.]

Humanity, a Self-Portrait in Shades of Light and Dark

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

Now and then, readers get in touch to say they will be visiting London and ask to meet up for a chat over a coffee, beer, or perhaps a meal. I have met people from all over the world, male and female, gay and straight, and it has always been a delightful experience. 

It is not only very encouraging but also fulfilling for a poet to meet his readers, and I hope more of you will feel free to meet up with me. Oh, and fear not, I appreciate plain speaking and don’t expect everyone to like or even agree with everything I write. Needless to say, I always enjoy a friendly argument…

Feel free to email me any time: rogertab@aol.com

Meanwhile…

On wintry days (not necessarily of the seasonal variety) it can sometimes seem as if darkness must inevitably get the better of us, such is the nature of things, that we human beings will never shrug off its nightmares for long and any light of day revisited but a cold one.

Ah, but never, never, say ‘never’ or underestimate the capacity of the human spirit for love and light in all its shapes and shades…or the enduring power of either. While there is no greater power of remembrance than love, there are aspects of character and personality in all of us that are likely to make an impression on others to form part of a posthumous consciousness that lends us a sense of immortality, passed on from person to person, generation to generation, ad infinitum ...

Photo: from the Internet

This poem is a villanelle.

HUMANITY, A SELF-PORTRAIT IN SHADES OF LIGHT AND DARK

Though death’s dark canopy,

our lives may obscure,

to light, the final victory

Along thorny paths of history

let us tread with care,

though death’s dark canopy

If few life choices made easy,

consciences left clear,

to light, the final victory

Among triumphs over misery,

to light, the greater share,

though death’s dark canopy

Where shades of inhumanity

feed on hate and fear,

to light, the final victory

Let self, its own worst enemy,

love’s true colours wear;

though death’s dark canopy,

to light, the final victory 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2005; 2015

[Note: An earlier version of this poem first appeared under the title Darkness and Light in  Expressions from London and Home Counties, Anchor Books [Forward Press] 2004 and subsequently in A Feeling for the Quickness of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2005.]