https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
I always welcome constructive criticism; more often than not this turns on the fact that I rarely use full stops at the end of stanzas. Regular readers will know that it is a convention I prefer to ignore because, as I see it, they interrupt both the free flow of a poem and reader's thought/s relating to it.
I recently asked one such critic if my lack of punctuation had ever spoilt a poem for him. He conceded it had not while protesting that "You expect to find a full stop at the end of stanzas if only to allow the reader breathing space to consider what's gone before."
"So what if the poet sees no need for a breathing space from start to finish, and beyond?" I asked. It's expected," he insisted again.
I rest my case.
Now, the heart always thinks it knows what is best for us, and often does; most of us invariably take its advice, for better, for worse, regardless of any arguments put forward to the contrary. Whether or not we make the right choice for ourselves, and any other parties concerned, they can be dark days while we try to think it through as reasonable people, well aware that reason cannot always be relied upon (or allowed, as the case may be) to get the upper hand...
C'est la vie.
LOVE, A LEADING LIGHT
I always welcome constructive criticism; more often than not this turns on the fact that I rarely use full stops at the end of stanzas. Regular readers will know that it is a convention I prefer to ignore because, as I see it, they interrupt both the free flow of a poem and reader's thought/s relating to it.
I recently asked one such critic if my lack of punctuation had ever spoilt a poem for him. He conceded it had not while protesting that "You expect to find a full stop at the end of stanzas if only to allow the reader breathing space to consider what's gone before."
"So what if the poet sees no need for a breathing space from start to finish, and beyond?" I asked. It's expected," he insisted again.
I rest my case.
Now, the heart always thinks it knows what is best for us, and often does; most of us invariably take its advice, for better, for worse, regardless of any arguments put forward to the contrary. Whether or not we make the right choice for ourselves, and any other parties concerned, they can be dark days while we try to think it through as reasonable people, well aware that reason cannot always be relied upon (or allowed, as the case may be) to get the upper hand...
C'est la vie.
LOVE, A LEADING LIGHT
Love, a guiding light
through life’s misty days,
come the dark of night
Though it takes fright
at humanity’s shifty gaze,
love, a guiding light
Invariably, it's hindsight
alerted to an enemy’s ways,
come the dark of night
Though doves take flight,
would douse sunset’s blaze,
love, a guiding light
Forces of wrong and right,
arguing the error of our ways,
come the dark of night
Head, it would see us right,
but Heart says where it stays;
love, a guiding light,
come the dark of night
Copyright R. N. Taber 2012. 2019
[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the title 'Love, a Guiding Light' in Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012.]
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