http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Today’s
poem has appeared twice on the blog before, the last time in 2010. It takes its
title from a delightful and moving gay movie of the same name (in translation) Juste une Question d’Amour; it was first
shown on French television in January 2000.
There was
a time, especially in the 1980's and early 1990's, that Channel 4 here showed a
variety of mainstream gay films, but we rarely see any on British television
these days. [By mainstream, I mean an alternative to the kind of soft porn
stuff that’s easy enough to come by. No worries there, but I for one enjoy a good
story line with believable characters. Titles like The Torchsong Trilogy, Beautiful
Thing, Get Real and Brokeback
Mountain instantly spring to mind...]
We rarely
even hear any discussion on gay
issues here, either on TV or radio. Could it be that broadcasters are afraid of
offending the less enlightened among the heterosexual majority, increasing in numbers
all the time in a multicultural society in which various socio-cultural-religious
hang-ups invariably include homophobia?
Now, as I
have said many times, love does not discriminate so why should anyone? Sometimes I wonder, are we really living in the 21st
century?
Even nowadays, many gay people are made to feel they have to choose between sexuality and family, friends, culture, entire home environment. No one should have to make such a choice anywhere in the world. and no one has the right to impose it on anyone.
Even nowadays, many gay people are made to feel they have to choose between sexuality and family, friends, culture, entire home environment. No one should have to make such a choice anywhere in the world. and no one has the right to impose it on anyone.
This poem
is a villanelle.
JUST A
QUESTION OF LOVE
As spring
rain from above
on Earth
Mother in pain;
it's just
a question of love
As push
comes to shove,
so love
into its own,
as spring
rain from above
The
healing wing of a dove
will
learn to fly again;
it’s just
a question of love
Love has
nothing to prove;
a bigot’s
loss, its gain,
as spring
rain from above
See a
hand torn from glove
beat cold
and pain;
it’s just
a question of love
If
nature’s sexuality prove
as
precious a bane
as spring
rain from above,
it’s just
a question of love
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010
Copyright R. N. Taber 2010
[From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010]
