A Farewell

 

Roger Noel Taber
21 December 1945 - 2 March 2023

Foreword from Graham Collett (a close friend)

I’m very sorry to let you all know that, tragically, Roger passed away earlier this year after battling a long period of acute illness. Despite the excellent care he received at the Whittington, and latterly, Barnet Hospital ICU’s, his lifeforce finally took flight into that great beyond…

Many of Roger’s close friends kindly visited him over those preceding weeks in intensive care. Despite his heavy sedation, we took turns to read poetry and short stories at his bedside, and hold his hand. I believe we all nurtured hope in his recovery.

I feel privileged to have shared a close friendship with Roger over 22 years. Through triumph and disaster he’s been there for me. Across this odyssey of time-space we call ‘life’ he’s been a guiding light. I’m still reconciling myself to a new, bleaker reality and feeling rather adrift. Though it’s a voyage illuminated by the glimmer of treasured memories. Such is bereavement for many of us I imagine…

To say that we only recognise the true value of something after it’s lost… well, it seems so trite; a truism even…? But it’s also an inexorable aspect to existence which tests us all in the end. All the more reason to ‘rise above’ as Roger encouraged us; carpe diem.

As an advocate for pantheist principles and nature, I hope readers will draw comfort from the notion of Roger returning to the bosom of Earth Mother... Death is but a part of that universal cycle of creation, dissolution and then, rebirth. I also hope that his beautiful poetry will continue to inspire and resonate with you all.

I aim to post Roger’s unpublished poetry on the blogs occasionally - mainly to maintain their presence online. Please bear with me on this as I have a high pressure job and little free time! Further along, I also hope to publish (either in print or eBook) Addressing the Art of Being Human, a collection spanning 2020.

I will leave you with a poem I chanced upon from Roger’s extensive archive.

Best wishes to all for 2024.
Peace, Graham x

 

FAREWELL

Think not that I am gone,
but please think this of me;
that once was a man
who so wanted to be good,
but sadly was not always
one who never, ever, meant
to be bad if sometimes
blindness took him this way;
who rose above bigotry
to embrace a born sexuality
in poetry driven, inspired
by sheer spirituality, nurtured
not by word or world,
only Earth Mother to whom
I was born, and now return
much like last autumn’s kiss,
promising this to all whom
I have loved, will surely miss,
and bequeath to birdsong

Oh, but watch and listen
for spring, that any winters
of our parting may seem
less harsh nor so long if only
for robins celebrating us,
and though this sorry world
weep as it surely will
for an elusive love and peace,
I feel privileged to rest
where doves can but create
metaphor

There, where you are...

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011