Sorry, I am getting my days muddled up this week and intended to post yesterday’s poem today. Oh, well, never mind. Here’s a poem that has appeared on the blog before and has been especially asked for by ‘Harrison and George’ who say they enjoy my villanelles; it seems this one is special for them as Harrison’s mother died one Christmas Eve so it is always a difficult time for him. Even so, he says, ‘...just when it seems that even love is not enough to see us through bad times, something comes long to make us realise it IS enough after all.’
My sentiments exactly...although we might have to wait a while before that realisation makes itself well and truly felt. Oh, but it will find a way so long as we leave the door of our hearts at least ajar if not wide open for it to enter.
Now, as regular readers know, I love robins. For me, they are a living metaphor for what life is all about; stoicism and survival in the face of despair...wherever the twin spirits of peace and love are not only singing from the same hymn sheet for a change, but finding a voice all year round.
The first Christmas after my partner died was both the worst and best I’ve ever experienced; the worst for its loneliness, the best for my discovering that love is everywhere. Even a winter of the heart cannot but find peace, hope and love in a robin’s sweet song.
CLOSE TO CHRISTMAS
One day close to Christmas
in a time long ago…
cock robin sang for us
Life had not been kind to us
but dealt a savage blow
one day close to Christmas
Icy rain, camouflage for tears,
our love no place to go,
brave cock robin sang for us
A kind snowman hid our fears
under a coat of snow,
one day close to Christmas
In a time of gifts and promises
making a fine show,
cock robin sang for us
Our love, it lit up the loneliness
of death’s dark hollow;
One day close to Christmas
cock robin sang for us…
Copyright R. N. Taber 2008
0 comments:
Post a Comment