Several
readers have asked me to repeat this poem last posted here in 2010 and from
which my 6th collection takes its title; the cover photograph taken
by my close friend Graham Collett is of the folly at Virginia Water. The book sold
well enough (for poetry) in the UK to and sales have paid for my new collection.
So I am hoping Tracking the Torchbearer
can do the same for a final collection I have in mind for 2015 when I hit 70.
On
the Battlefields of Love is still in print, and while UK readers can order from
any bookstore or amazon.co.uk, they - as well as overseas readers - can also buy
signed copies direct from me at a discount on (retail price + shipping). Contact:
rogertab@aol.com with ‘Poetry
Collection’ or ‘Blog reader’ in the subject field.
Life
is often a mental as well as a physical battlefield, but to love the last word
and final victory; love in all its shapes and forms, never judging and never,
but never discriminating along lines
of colour, creed, sex or sexuality. .
Long,
long live love...
ON
THE BATTLEFIELDS OF LOVE
There
is a gene amongst others
that
scares fathers, concerns mothers,
while
(still) gay people everywhere
crying
out for them to care
No
matter colour, sex or creed,
it
is on love that families should feed;
(where
faith a mask for hypocrisy,
religions
often found guilty)
Gay
people have a right to be
free
of cultural prejudices and bigotry
making
us feel we must defend
our
sexuality to the end…
It’s
good to be open, honest, true,
but
what are gay people supposed to do
when
love for family put on the line,
urging
us our selves to redefine?
If
a faith in God fills heart and soul,
how
can gay people expect to reconcile
teachings
of universal love and peace
with
examples holy leaders set us?
We
can but follow love’s golden rules,
(if
made to carry its burdens like mules)
in
a common humanity put our trust,
shake
off its exceptions, like dust
Some
will always find excuses for war,
gay
and straight folks wage another?
[From:
On the Battlefields of Love by R. N.
Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
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