In the Footsteps of Ghosts

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

Now, regular readers will know by now that I have a passion for trees. My all-time favourite tree is the weeping willow about which I have written more than once, especially when writing love poems; beauty and tears (of joy as well as pain)…as good an icon as any for lovers the world over, gay or straight, especially perhaps where they are confronted by this or that socio-cultural-religious divide…?

We are all Children of the Earth, no exceptions.

Many of us, too, go through life following in the footsteps of ghosts, whether consciously or subconsciously; Leonardo Da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, Tchaikovsky and Walt Whitman to name but a few.

Interestingly, I once met a gay-unfriendly music lover on a train who was visibly shaken when I alerted him to the fact that Tchaikovsky was gay. Needless to say, he did not change his seat when I mentioned that I, too, am gay; we became good friends.

This poem is a villanelle.

IN  THE FOOTSTEPS OF GHOSTS

Earth Mother ever in the know,
willow’s altar candles burning bright
for first (gay) kisses long, long ago

The heart, a tear stained pillow
for a love that knows wrong from right,
Earth Mother ever in the know

Songbirds, their blessing bestow,
humankind girding its loins for a fight,
for first (gay) kisses long, long ago

As the world’s lovers come and go,
so, too, new songs and poems to write,
Earth Mother ever in the know

Memories, stars on a grassy pillow
perpetuating landscapes of day and night
for first (gay) kisses, long, long ago

Where time goes, prejudices follow;
love, though passes into dawn’s leafy light,
Earth Mother ever in the know,
for first (gay) kisses long, long ago

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012