For my next blog, my first for 2019 I thought I would pick one of my new poems for the next book, hopefully to be completed by the end of 2019. I better get a move on as it is already March and Easter draws near. The poem I have chosen is Loss, Grief and Hope-Ode to friends and Loved Ones written in January 2018.
So much happening already in 2019, life is really too rushed. Is it any wonder we try many ways to slow down and make every effort to learn the art of deep breathing, relaxing, mindfulness, yoga and pilates or just try to be regular gym junkies. Stress seems to be with us every day like some toxic sludge or weight on our shoulders?
Poem Loss, Grief and Hope-Ode to friends and loved ones - 16 January 2018
Loss and grief.
Give me some relief!
Too many good friends have recently gone.
Gone to graveyards everyone.
When will they ever learn, to quote from an old song.
It is so wrong.
When we too are soon called up.
To drink our final cup.
For some, they may be given an early relief.
From an unknown long drawn out painful death.
A painful death.
Facing so many in this modern age of medical miracles.
As the inevitable is drawn out for longer and longer.
It’s all ever so sombre.
Listen to the oracles.
Learn to cope,
Learn to give,
Learn to forgive.
Say sorry, don’t worry.
Be intentional, not just positive and optimistic.
Be social and emotional.
Be silent and vocal.
Forget pain.
Think Desiderata and the Dalai Lama.
The world is still a beautiful place.
In any case.
Think of Christ and of so many other wise men and women.
Only maintain the gain.
And life’s rich game.
As it unfolds and grows.
Uncertain in its ever increasing uncertainty.
Embrace beauty in all its forms.
Embrace love in all its norms.
Enjoy the storms.
And the quiet and peaceful times.
Not just sometimes.
Accept diversity.
Go forward until you too meet your maker.
And the final curtain. It’s so uncertain.
Finish well, the race is being run.
And in the meantime enjoy every moment in the sun.
While some may say what is the point? and how can you see light at the end of the tunnel? and even using the words who gives a f__k, I still think there is a lot to be said for optimism, remaining positive no matter how bad things might become and taking on a more recent mantra of being intentional. Now there is a word about which you might have your own thoughts. It does make us think and has that sense of being proactive and taking on, head-on, the challenges of adversity and trouble.
Never before have we been so exposed to bad and sad news-it is like a blitz krieg enveloping us on a daily basis. But in the same breath, never before has there been so much exposure about the community’s uplifting response to new challenges, be it to a one in 200 year flood, to another summer of distressing bush fires, to tackling plastic in the worlds oceans or to the continuing scourge of domestic violence and child abuse.
Charity and volunteering are at an all-time high and our ability to respond in a crisis is a testament to us all as members and travellers of the human race. To quote some words from Desiderata written in 1927: With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.
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