http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Years ago, I found a stronger sense of camaraderie among gay people than has struck me in recent years. I even began to wonder if it was still there.
So I need to say a BIG thank you to those readers who have contacted me to wish me well with my prostate tumour, forthcoming biopsy and subsequent results.
It is good to know that there is still a sense of common humanity among many of us (still) trying to get across to the heterosexual majority that homosexual identity is a natural part of a natural whole, not something to be seen as separate or in any way unnatural.
Oh, there will always be bigots who love to pontificate about ‘sin’ and the like if only because they are punctilious pricks huffing and puffing their own self-importance at the doors of anyone who’ll listen. But there are also many decent people in the world, with open minds and open hearts, whatever conclusions about themselves they may have drawn.
Now, although I am not too worried about the tumour in my prostate, every now and then I get anxious. At such times, as I have always done in anything resembling a crisis, I let my thoughts turn to Earth Mother and she reassures me in much the same way as I suspect my birth mother would if she were still alive.
This poem was written in 2009. I was recently reminded why I wrote it by emails from men and women made to feel guilty about their sexuality by religious minded people who really should know better. As I have said before (and will undoubtedly say again) - take humanity out of religion and what you have left is not worth having.
'One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.' - William Shakepeare (Troilus and Cressida)
MOTHER AND CHILD
They stripped me naked,
wrapped me in a cloak of nettles,
dragged me to Hell’s gate,
calling on those gathered inside
(seeking a way out)
to open up and take me in, away
from a world that such as I
dare stain with the juices of a sin
beyond redemption
Yet, the gate did not open
though their screams of abuse
did not cease
nor did those inside overtly refuse
to do their best…
for I made so bold as to call
upon Earth Mother
to rebirth me at the milky breast
of sanctuary
They slunk away like wolves
from firelight, heat and glow more
of a threat even than I;
as for those others for whom also
the gate refused to open,
they could but resume fighting
among themselves
over who was to blame this time
and in whose name
‘Peace, child,’ she croons reassuringly,
from whom I inherit my sexual identity
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
Years ago, I found a stronger sense of camaraderie among gay people than has struck me in recent years. I even began to wonder if it was still there.
So I need to say a BIG thank you to those readers who have contacted me to wish me well with my prostate tumour, forthcoming biopsy and subsequent results.
It is good to know that there is still a sense of common humanity among many of us (still) trying to get across to the heterosexual majority that homosexual identity is a natural part of a natural whole, not something to be seen as separate or in any way unnatural.
Oh, there will always be bigots who love to pontificate about ‘sin’ and the like if only because they are punctilious pricks huffing and puffing their own self-importance at the doors of anyone who’ll listen. But there are also many decent people in the world, with open minds and open hearts, whatever conclusions about themselves they may have drawn.
Now, although I am not too worried about the tumour in my prostate, every now and then I get anxious. At such times, as I have always done in anything resembling a crisis, I let my thoughts turn to Earth Mother and she reassures me in much the same way as I suspect my birth mother would if she were still alive.
This poem was written in 2009. I was recently reminded why I wrote it by emails from men and women made to feel guilty about their sexuality by religious minded people who really should know better. As I have said before (and will undoubtedly say again) - take humanity out of religion and what you have left is not worth having.
'One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.' - William Shakepeare (Troilus and Cressida)
MOTHER AND CHILD
They stripped me naked,
wrapped me in a cloak of nettles,
dragged me to Hell’s gate,
calling on those gathered inside
(seeking a way out)
to open up and take me in, away
from a world that such as I
dare stain with the juices of a sin
beyond redemption
Yet, the gate did not open
though their screams of abuse
did not cease
nor did those inside overtly refuse
to do their best…
for I made so bold as to call
upon Earth Mother
to rebirth me at the milky breast
of sanctuary
They slunk away like wolves
from firelight, heat and glow more
of a threat even than I;
as for those others for whom also
the gate refused to open,
they could but resume fighting
among themselves
over who was to blame this time
and in whose name
‘Peace, child,’ she croons reassuringly,
from whom I inherit my sexual identity
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
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