Shades of Grey

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

“Modern man talks of a battle with nature, forgetting that, if he won the battle, he would find himself on the losing side.” - E. F. Schumacher

“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken.” - Leo Tolstoy 

“The best friend on earth of man is the tree: When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources of the earth.”- Frank Lloyd Wright

“Nature's music is never over; her silences are pauses, not conclusions.” - Mary Webb

Now, tomorrow will see us mark the end of 2022, each in our own way.  Across the world, people will be coming together to celebrate New Year’s Eve; a veritable feast of music, dance, relief at having survived another year and hope that the next will, indeed, be a happy one.  

We can, each and every one of us, only do our best to see our hopes fulfilled, subject though all of us are to circumstances beyond our control. All the more reason though, surely, to enjoy the Here-and Now, let it fill our lives with bright colours and inspiring sounds which, though they fade, even die, they, and the person they encouraged us to be, live on in every mind-body-spirit, heart-and-soul, they ever touched.

Oh, and again, many thanks for dropping by, much appreciated, and I hope you will join me again soon for my first post-poem of 2023… assuming that I can continue to rise above - if not quite get the better of - the mess in which ten years of hormone therapy for my prostate cancer have left my thought processes.😉

SHADES OF GREY

The world around me,
various shades of grey, a sad, 
often lonely place…
Apollo having all but taken
his leave of us, trusting
we’ll manage gloomy days
as best we can,
let mind-body-spirit aid and abet us
in making wiser choices 

Weary, a natural world
sick of human nature abusing it
in the name of ‘progress’
without taking bold steps enough
to ensure its past-present
may yet anticipate a kinder future
than marks its pages,
colours its history, common humanity
but a chancer’s reality

Shades of green and gold
courtesy of Apollo’s rays of hope,
a brave one-upmanship
taking its cue from any You-Me-Us 
that haunts the history
of a humankind trying to find its way
through multiple shades
of blue-green-gold urging we'll get wise
to its potential demise

Though we suffer its every shade of grey,
trust heart-and-soul to save the day

Copyright R. N. Taber 2022

[Note: This poet-poem also appears on my general poetry blog today. I am also working on a new gay-specific poem  which I hope to publish here soon.] RT

Pink in the Frame OR L-O-V-E, where Life forces Come in all Colours

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

Some readers may be interested in the latest video (Salisbury Cathedral) that my close friend Graham has beautifully shot for YouTube and for which I have written and read a new poem.  

Although I do not subscribe to any religion, it doesn’t mean I have any less love for the architecture of many religious edifices; for much of religious music, too, even if I cannot relate the words of hymns and other songs of praise. 

An eye and feeling for beauty are unconditional, surely? 

Nature offers a sense of spirituality with no strings attached; the same cannot be said for religion.  As for God, who's to say God and nature are not one and the same? me, I cannot believe in a personified God, yet I see nature as a metaphor for a force for good that has to come close, surely? I count myself as neither atheist nor agnostic, just a poet who also happens to be gay, and others are free to make of that what they will. 

If interested, you can access video and poem at my YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber

as well as my general blog today:

http://rogertab.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile...

This poem has not appeared on the blog since 2010, and I am repeating it today especially for ‘Marie’ and her partner ‘Aileen’ who contacted me a while ago to say they ‘really like it’.  I always love to hear from readers so thanks for that. Regular readers will know that the reason I don’t post comments is that it is, after all, a poetry blog, and I feel they can distract from the poem. Even so, anyone is free to contact me about anything at my email address, which is why I included it in the blog’s Introduction.

This the poem is one of many in which I try to convey something of an enduring sense of spirituality that nature has always given me since early childhood and for which I have looked for but never found in religion. 

PINK, IN THE FRAME or L-O-V-E, WHERE LIFE FORCES COME IN ALL COLOURS

Yellow, like bright sunshine on spring flowers;

such is the colour of love

Green, like summer leaves dancing on a breeze;

such is the colour of love

Sometimes turning a reddish gold, growing old;

such is the colour of love

Sometimes gone grey, like our ashes in a hearth;

such is the colour of love

White, like virgin snow on nature’s fine promises;

such is the colour of love

Pink, like dawn’s gay chorus or sunset’s shy blush;

such, too, is the colour of love

[From: Accomplices To Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007]