A Poet's Blog: Roger N.Taber shares his thoughts & poems...

Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian and poet-novelist.- "Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Sexuality ... these are but parts of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to critical emails about my poetry. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

Name:
Location: London, United Kingdom

Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.

Wednesday 17 April 2019

Notre Dame, a Phoenix Rising

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

[Update, 3/5/20]: As restoration work on building and artefacts continues, French President Emmanuel Macron has since announced that Notre Dame would be rebuilt by 2024 although, of course, this was before the Covid-29 pandemic. Fingers, crossed ...]

Regular readers will know I do not follow any religion although I have every respect for those who do so. My Christian upbringing let me down too often to have any place in my mind-body-spirit. Instead, I chose to put my faith in nature, especially given that no religion has a monopoly on spirituality.

Even as a child, I felt as close to Earth Mother as to my birth parent, and when my mother died, the latter saw me through one of the worst periods in my life, culminating in a nervous breakdown some 40 years ago; both have continued to sustain me since.

I once had the good fortune to visit Notre Dame cathedral with an old friend who is no more religious than yours truly. We both fell in love with its beauty and were held in voluntary thrall to the sense of spirituality it evokes long after leaving its towers, stained glass windows and precious artefacts behind …

When a raging fire broke out, all but engulfing Notre Dame earlier this week, in the early evening of Monday, April 15th, I shared Paris’s grief among many around the world; like them, too, I heaved a sigh of relief that its main structure remains standing and there is potential for as impressive a restoration as saw the survival of York Minster after a fire there some years ago. Moreover, the heroism of French firefighters tackling the blaze, and that of the chaplain who ran into the burning building to save what precious artefacts he could, well deserve a place in history.

Notre-Dame spire collapsing 
(photo from the Internet))

This poem is a villanelle.

NOTRE-DAME, A PHOENIX RISING

Gothic cathedral, pride of a city,
Notre-Dame, loved by all,
global metaphor for spirituality

Though fire threatens its entirety,
its proud exterior stands tall;
Gothic cathedral, pride of a city

Heroic firemen, salvaging history,
though its spire takes a fall;
global metaphor for spirituality

Brave chaplain confronts eternity
at Heaven’s call;
Gothic cathedral, pride of a city

Paris in tears and hymning its story,
free world in thrall;
global metaphor for spirituality

Stoic survivor, messaging its glory,
world answering its call;
Gothic cathedral, pride of a city,
global metaphor for spirituality

Copyright R N. Taber 2019
(April 17th 2019)





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Thursday 21 May 2015

Flotilla of Remembrance


Today, May 21st 2015, a flotilla of boats will set sail from Ramsgate to mark the 75th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation during World War 2.

This poem is a villanelle.

FLOTILLA OF REMEMBRANCE

To Dunkirk, the little ships did sail
for tens of thousands, backs to the sea;
an awesome task they dare not fail

Its bloody beaches saw hope prevail,
a town on fire, centre-stage for history;
to Dunkirk, the little ships did sail

Ordinary people, answering the call
to play their part for king and country;
an awesome task they dare not fail

Injured and dying due for a miracle
few could believe they would ever see;
to Dunkirk, the little ships did sail

Tens of thousands plucked from hell
under plain sail transcending the ordinary;
an awesome task they dare not fail

Soldiers of Peace, heroes one and all,
applying humanity’s balm, braving its fury;
to Dunkirk, the little ships did sail,
an awesome task they dare not fail


Copyright R. N. Taber 2010; 2015 


[Note: May 27th - June 4th 1940 saw the remarkable rescue of tens of thousands of allied troops trapped under enemy fire on the beaches of Dunkirk. ]

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