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 2 December 2015

Squaring up to Potential

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

How often, I wonder, do we convince ourselves time is not on our side as an excuse for doing nothing?

Sometimes, we need to square up to Time and reconcile it with whatever we have in mind. Otherwise, years on, we may well find ourselves rummaging our past and finding it badly wanting, ourselves, too. We have only to look up and see cloud faces looking critically down on us to understand where the blame lies.

As I grow old (I will be 70 on the winter solstice) I find myself having to live with many such lost opportunities and subsequent layers of wishful thinking prior to my  (finally) discovering the self- empowering nature of positive thought. (Even regrets don’t have to be totally negative in the sense that we can learn from our mistakes …if only we make time to do so.)

We need to believe in ourselves if we stand any chance at all of making a better, kinder world for all of us. So don't let anyone put you down for whatever reason but explore your potential and make the most of it.  We can but try. Oh, and however things turn out, be happy, and never let anyone make you feel you could do better and are settling for second best. The chances are, they are jealous that making the most of who you are has made you happy while they regret not having tried harder themselves. 

Oh, and happiness comes in all shapes and sizes, of course, so never let anyone judge you, either. Everyone's potential is different and tailored to different aspirations. As I have said many times on the blogs, those differences don't make us different, just human,

SQUARING UP TO POTENTIAL

Peering down a pit of years,
pin-prick of light at the bottom
reminiscent of birth;
bleak, timeless walls rising
like dark threats,
reminiscent of waiting graves
conjured up
by each day’s passing, homing in
on ends of beginnings, beginnings of ends,
nemeses of ideology

Peering down a pit of years,
letting a tear drop to the bottom,
reminiscent of a dream,
ripples of light chasing potential
into a nothingness
reminiscent of an empty cage
as conjured up
by each day’s passing, homing in
on ifs, maybe’s, would have, should have,
no excuses

Peering up at passing clouds,
putting names to faces I have loved,
reminiscent of meaning
despite neither answers or questions,
only heartbeats
reminiscent of raindrops on a petal,
potentially destructive,
but unable to break the spirit of stem
or flower, beginnings and endings nurtured
by Earth Mother

Peering across a garden lawn,
restoring sight enough to open mind,
body and spirit
to the enduring spirituality of life,
love and peace
that cannot deny prison, pit or cage,
but knows better
than to let either surfeit of questions
or want of answers leave us in the dark
from womb to tomb

Trust body, mind and spirit
to flush out inner, kinder, better selves,
reminiscent of solutions
to unanswered questions left to climb
bleak, timeless walls,
spurred on by pin-pricks of light
competing to engage
humanity with pride for homing in
on timeless heavens, no end of potential
in its sights

Copyright R. N. Taber 2015

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Saturday 4 July 2015

Waves, Metaphor for Life


Some readers also dip into my fiction blog, and those of you who enjoyed the first part of my fantasy novel, Mamelon, will be pleased to know that I am (just about) on track for completing the second (final) part by the end of this year.  Sorry for the delay, but I am still experiencing difficulty walking (even with a walking stick) after my accident last year. However, I am learning to manage the pain and get out and about. Better news, though, is that hormone therapy continues to keep my prostate cancer at bay. Gotta look on the bright side of life, YES.

Now, regular readers will know I love the sea. For me, it is one of nature’s finest metaphors for life; love, war, peace, spirituality, inspiration, fulfilment, regret…a potpourri of its more splendid aspects while, at the same time, acknowledging the starkness of its reality and the comfort of home grown illusion.

 Photo; from the Internet

 W-A-V-E-S, METAPHORS FOR LIFE

Waves, splashing
against me like a meeting
of old friends…
now showering me with kisses,
now running away…
just as you did towards
the end of our living together,

considered sinners

We'd no more giving
for each other, only the pain
of recalling (in tears)
how once we were - one life,
one love, twin waves
embracing the same shore,
flotsam spread across pebbles
like prayer beads

At every heartbeat,
fragile fingers trembling
at each fastening
and unfastening - of desires
rising, tumbling...
like waves lingering
but briefly at deserted shores,
crumbling sea walls

Left listening out for your calls,
but only seagulls...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2004; 2015

[Note: This poem has been slightly revised from an earlier version that appears under the title Waves in The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004.]


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