Wednesday, 30 July 2014

P-E-A-C-E, Sounds of Silence


The world is always turning, yet how little it has changed in real terms (i.e. those that really count) since its creation...

Recent reminders of war and fierce resistance to dictatorship in various parts of the world and hate crime on our very own doorsteps brought this poem to mind.

When will they ever learn? Oh, when will we (all) ever learn?

This poem is a villanelle.
  
P-E-A-C-E,  SOUNDS OF SILENCE 

Oh, for the sound of silence
as only heard in dreams
where no one wins or loses,
but common sense rules
on a reality check where grief
ceases firing its guns
in a deaf-blind rage against
a mind-body-spirit
down but never out if slower
to take heart

No escape from loneliness
on wings of a bird...
but in the sound of silence
before applause bursts
upon the grand Theatre of Life
for our playing a part
rather than sitting in the stalls
letting better actors
than ourselves be accomplices
to illusion

Where poverty, hunger,  pain,
crying out to be free,
find in loving one another
no small relief 
from the failings of any senses
put on hold for want
of meaning, purpose and faith
in ourselves, 
bring light to the darkness angels 
fear to tread

Oh, to let fall a safety curtain
on worldly sounds
distracting mind-body-spirit
from finding peace,
as a child chasing a butterfly
might well be
by the shouts of peers apparently
enjoying more rewards
than in a seemingly futile pursuit
of quiet wings

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2018

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title 'Towards Enlightenment' in The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004.]


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