http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Having been partially deaf since early childhood, I have never had an ear for languages but so wish I had as then I, too, would have been able to work in countries where English is not the first language spoken. In the UK, schools that do not teach young children several languages are, in my opinion, letting them down badly. The earlier a child starts to learn a language, the quicker he or she will grasp its intricacies and, hopefully, become bilingual. [As an island race, being physically separated from the rest of Europe often works against us Brits.]
Not speaking a language should not deter us from visiting other countries but how much more there is to discover and enjoy if you can communicate with the locals in their own language! I have always done my best and people seem to appreciate it but I suspect my poor efforts have unintentionally given many people the best laugh they have had in ages.
Why this preamble? Well, a French reader ‘Alain’ came across the poem and has asked for it to be posted for his birthday today, especially as he is working in Germany and will be away from his partner Roberto in that part of Italy where they have made a home together. Both are HIV positive.
On December 1 we will mark World AIDS Day. Gay or straight, we should remember those living with HIV+ and those who have died; remember them with love in our hearts.
I am fortunate not to be HIV+ yet have often been put down by people just for being gay. At such times, I look to the better side of human nature for reassurance, help re-assert my self-esteem and pride in who and what I am. As someone who takes a strong sense of spirituality from nature, do I ever feel that it has let me down? Not at all. Mother Nature gives more than she takes away, and without any form of discrimination. It is the discriminatory nature of humankind that is to blame for much if not most of of its persistent in-fighting.
Do I find what I am looking for in nature and human nature? Oh, yes. It may be in short supply, but it is always there.
Having been partially deaf since early childhood, I have never had an ear for languages but so wish I had as then I, too, would have been able to work in countries where English is not the first language spoken. In the UK, schools that do not teach young children several languages are, in my opinion, letting them down badly. The earlier a child starts to learn a language, the quicker he or she will grasp its intricacies and, hopefully, become bilingual. [As an island race, being physically separated from the rest of Europe often works against us Brits.]
Not speaking a language should not deter us from visiting other countries but how much more there is to discover and enjoy if you can communicate with the locals in their own language! I have always done my best and people seem to appreciate it but I suspect my poor efforts have unintentionally given many people the best laugh they have had in ages.
Why this preamble? Well, a French reader ‘Alain’ came across the poem and has asked for it to be posted for his birthday today, especially as he is working in Germany and will be away from his partner Roberto in that part of Italy where they have made a home together. Both are HIV positive.
On December 1 we will mark World AIDS Day. Gay or straight, we should remember those living with HIV+ and those who have died; remember them with love in our hearts.
I am fortunate not to be HIV+ yet have often been put down by people just for being gay. At such times, I look to the better side of human nature for reassurance, help re-assert my self-esteem and pride in who and what I am. As someone who takes a strong sense of spirituality from nature, do I ever feel that it has let me down? Not at all. Mother Nature gives more than she takes away, and without any form of discrimination. It is the discriminatory nature of humankind that is to blame for much if not most of of its persistent in-fighting.
Do I find what I am looking for in nature and human nature? Oh, yes. It may be in short supply, but it is always there.
THE RED RIBBON, BADGE FOR AN OPEN HEART
Twilight, favouring us all
Twilight, favouring us all
with a misty golden rain, joyful hymn
to peace risen above our pain,
freely acknowledging we had come
to that last, lonely parting
at time’s guileless whim, bringing us,
less prepared than we should be
though each of us warned enough
of eternity tied like a ribbon
in Earth Mother’s hair though it flow
across near-far horizons
where rich and poor, beggars,
thieves, saints and murderers come
for a reckoning they’ve probably
spent temporality earning (or avoiding)
on that axis of morality known
for bending rules, taking advantage
of kith and kin ever anxious to salvage
the spoils of Creation
Fading fast, a sombre twilight,
waiting (like us) for moon and stars
to light up the gloom, help us
see a way clear to be sure a ribbon
for Earth Mother’s hair never forgotten
or love (ever) forsaken
Copyright R. N. Taber 2009
[From: Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber,
Assembly Books, 2012.]
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