http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
No one likes secrets. Even so, many if not most of us have some. Sadly, even in this sorry looking 21st century of ours, many gay people feel obliged to keep their sexuality a secret for all kinds of reasons; family/ peer pressure, state persecution in some countries, potential career damage…whatever. It’s all the more refreshing therefore when someone - especially a young - person in the public eye comes out to the media and, for the most part, people wish him or her well.
Not so long ago, TV’s Pop Idol winner Will Young came out. Now X Factor winner Joe McElderry has followed in his footsteps. Significantly, the majority of viewers who had already taken these young men to their hearts continue to wish them well in their lives generally as well as singing careers.
All credit to Joe (who admits to having kissed plenty of girls) for discovering and telling us that ’I’m really happy. Now I know who I really am.’
Let’s all wish Joe and Will every success in life, yeah?
AMONG SECRETS OF THE HEART?
Who does not guard secrets of the heart
they dare nor reveal, fearing rejection
by the object of their affection and desire,
lighting a fire in us we dare not share
(can but warm ourselves and take comfort
from each rising flame of unrequited love,
loneliness by any other name)?
Oh, to love and be loved in return, the fire
burn higher, fiercer still, in two hearts
instead of one. Yet, what can we do but keep
the secret safe? How to live, knowing
for sure we love in vain, nothing worthwhile
to hope for but kindness and a chance smile
kindling our pain, exposed for a fool?
If gay people can find a courage of heart
to come out, stand up and be counted
for who they are and all they stand for,
why not a straight person too? No one
can tell us what to do. Our decision. Quit
the lonely hearth, though it serve us well,
or make of heaven a hell on earth?
Better, surely, to let love’s secrets go free,
regardless of race, creed, sex, sexuality?
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010
[From: On the Battlefields Of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
No one likes secrets. Even so, many if not most of us have some. Sadly, even in this sorry looking 21st century of ours, many gay people feel obliged to keep their sexuality a secret for all kinds of reasons; family/ peer pressure, state persecution in some countries, potential career damage…whatever. It’s all the more refreshing therefore when someone - especially a young - person in the public eye comes out to the media and, for the most part, people wish him or her well.
Not so long ago, TV’s Pop Idol winner Will Young came out. Now X Factor winner Joe McElderry has followed in his footsteps. Significantly, the majority of viewers who had already taken these young men to their hearts continue to wish them well in their lives generally as well as singing careers.
All credit to Joe (who admits to having kissed plenty of girls) for discovering and telling us that ’I’m really happy. Now I know who I really am.’
Let’s all wish Joe and Will every success in life, yeah?
AMONG SECRETS OF THE HEART?
Who does not guard secrets of the heart
they dare nor reveal, fearing rejection
by the object of their affection and desire,
lighting a fire in us we dare not share
(can but warm ourselves and take comfort
from each rising flame of unrequited love,
loneliness by any other name)?
Oh, to love and be loved in return, the fire
burn higher, fiercer still, in two hearts
instead of one. Yet, what can we do but keep
the secret safe? How to live, knowing
for sure we love in vain, nothing worthwhile
to hope for but kindness and a chance smile
kindling our pain, exposed for a fool?
If gay people can find a courage of heart
to come out, stand up and be counted
for who they are and all they stand for,
why not a straight person too? No one
can tell us what to do. Our decision. Quit
the lonely hearth, though it serve us well,
or make of heaven a hell on earth?
Better, surely, to let love’s secrets go free,
regardless of race, creed, sex, sexuality?
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010
[From: On the Battlefields Of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
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