http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
For centuries gay men and women have seized the day and followed their dreams, often with tragic results in societies always on the lookout for a scapegoat for its own shortcomings.
Yet, we persevere, resolved to take our natural place in the world order and achieve equality with those among the heterosexual majority who would still – even in this 21st century – persecute us for our sexuality. True, in some parts of the world gay people have greater legal and social support than ever before; not so, alas, where there is neither cultural nor political will to deprive society of its scapegoats.
Wherever anti-gay attitudes prevail, we can but continue to seize the day, challenging various socio-cultural-religious and political attitudes where appropriate while following our dreams as far as contemporaneity permits, as we have done throughout history.
This poem is a villanelle:
YOU-ME-US, A LIFE HISTORY
Among leaves by a timeless stream,
denying war its say…
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Heartbeats joining in earth’s hymn
to life, we found our way…
among leaves by a timeless stream
Passing cloud like summer ice cream
celebrating a heavenly day,
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Songbirds, relaying nature’s scheme
of things, kept enemy fire at bay
among leaves by a timeless stream
Daunting though odds against us seem
(shrapnel in history’s clay)
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Come leading bigots, first to scream
abuse for or being gay...
Among leaves by a timeless stream,
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
For centuries gay men and women have seized the day and followed their dreams, often with tragic results in societies always on the lookout for a scapegoat for its own shortcomings.
Yet, we persevere, resolved to take our natural place in the world order and achieve equality with those among the heterosexual majority who would still – even in this 21st century – persecute us for our sexuality. True, in some parts of the world gay people have greater legal and social support than ever before; not so, alas, where there is neither cultural nor political will to deprive society of its scapegoats.
Wherever anti-gay attitudes prevail, we can but continue to seize the day, challenging various socio-cultural-religious and political attitudes where appropriate while following our dreams as far as contemporaneity permits, as we have done throughout history.
This poem is a villanelle:
YOU-ME-US, A LIFE HISTORY
Among leaves by a timeless stream,
denying war its say…
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Heartbeats joining in earth’s hymn
to life, we found our way…
among leaves by a timeless stream
Passing cloud like summer ice cream
celebrating a heavenly day,
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Songbirds, relaying nature’s scheme
of things, kept enemy fire at bay
among leaves by a timeless stream
Daunting though odds against us seem
(shrapnel in history’s clay)
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Come leading bigots, first to scream
abuse for or being gay...
Among leaves by a timeless stream,
we kissed, true lovers with a dream
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
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