Growing Wise to Ways of the World

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

A reader writes that “My partner and I love your tree poems, and always find them a comfort and inspiration. Can we have another please? Well, many thanks for that, and it’s my pleasure to oblige.

I only discovered later that the reader and his partner are gay; they have since been in touch again to ask me to post the poem here as well as on my general blog. 

When I first started the blog, feedback made it clear that readers welcomed the idea of a gay-interest poetry blog, and there seemed to be relatively little interest in my general blog although I have always made a point of posting gay poems there as well from time to time. I am pleased to say that, 10 years on, more gay readers seem to be dipping into both blogs now; even so, it is clear that many don't, which saddens because a poem is for everyone. It is true to say, of course, that much the same applies to general blog readers as feedback suggests few ever dipinto my gay blog. 

Poetry should be breaking down socio-cultural divides, at least that was my hope when I started the poetry blogs back in 2010; feedback suggests that hope has been realised in part, but just as in societies around the world, we still have a way to go yet; even so, some progress is better than none.😉

Whatever, I can only hope and many if not most of you, will enjoy this new poem that  has taken me down the sunny side of Memory Lane and helped restore flagging spirits; I can always rely on nature to engage with and rally the latter, even when I cannot get out and about to enjoy it  for real. Yet, no less real is the presence of nature in any of us if we will but let it in; no way does the creator-performer in any art form have a monopoly on nature unless in so far as it is their raison d'être to provide food for thought.

GROWING WISE TO WAYS OF WORLD 

Once, I had a friend
that would always listen
to my worst concerns,
ease the troubled mind
of a child who didn’t yet understand
the ways of the world

Once, I had a friend
that always knew just how
to cheer a sad heart,
bring light to any darkness,
company to ease a growing loneliness
for ways of the world 

As the child took on
the seasons of life, it learned
to take each as it came,
the good, the bad, the ugly,
let the heart sing even as it would weep
for ways of the world 

Now and then, the child
would return to bond yet again
with its old friend
in dreams if not reality
save a mind-body-spirit close to free fall
for ways of the world 

Though a time must come
when death us do part, old friend,
your spirit lives on
in all who care to engage
with an ages-old wisdom being passed on,
generation to generation 

Whenever ways of the world would defeat us,
find new life forces to be had in its trees

Copyright R. N. Taber 2020

Take care, folks, and be sure to nurture a positive thinking mindset,

Hugs,

Roger