Friday 11 July 2014

Between Friends OR Shades of Light and Dark


I once had a friend who became a heroin addict in his late teens and died from an overdose in 1967. 

My friend was 22 and happened to be gay, but drug abuse is a tragedy for too many young people – gay, straight, male, female, from all kinds of backgrounds - and there is still too little help available. To be honest, I was more than a little in love with him although he only ever saw me as a friend.  I still dream about him sometimes, and felt compelled to write this poem if only in remembrance of a great guy who took a wrong turning and was found lying in a gutter one day ...

I have known (and still do) people to whom taking hard drugs is socially acceptable, a trait encouraged by a drugs-friendly celebrity culture frequently in the media spotlight and setting an appalling example.
  
BETWEEN FRIENDS or SHADES OF LIGHT AND DARK

Under a halo of sudden light
a familiar figure beckons;
looks, sure to win the Devil over;
designer gear any angel would give
their wings for

Laugher lines in the classic brow,
enigmatic poise teasing me
even now as into the clinging dew,
I run barefoot,
hug anew this pouting saint
to a sobbing breast…
Laughter, through tears for years parted,
brokenhearted…
Catching my breath, no nearer it seems
to this golden haired god
in jeans I’ve borrowed times before,
reaching out a hand,
indulging me a bitter-sweet smile
that means so much I’d give my all
to touch…

Lark into dawn skies, vanished;
a bitter-sweet song,
no listener (ever) left unpunished;
lives as fresh and hopeful as spring rain
till you tried heroin

Copyright R. N. Taber 1974, 2000

[From: Love and Human Remains (under the title, Between Friends) by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2000]


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