Thursday, 30 May 2013

In Remembrance of Times Past


Here’s wishing peace and happiness to all lovers, gay or straight, who are able to be together.  May those kept apart by circumstances beyond their control find peace of mind, and eventually be reunited.

Sadly, there can be no happy ending for all of us. There are plenty of people in the world who cannot bear to see others happy, usually because they lead such miserable lives themselves. Or they put forward various socio-cultural-religious objections and manage to persuade themselves that theirs is the moral high ground. Huh, as if…!

Whatever, to love and be loved has to be one of life’s most precious gifts and even having to part with a loved one cannot take that away from us; it is ours to keep and cherish always.

The chances are a take on life derived from mutual love will make itself felt in ways great or small, but never insignificant, through much of what we do and say.

Hopefully, the power of love with which we have been blessed will rub off on others. Who knows? We may even help to make the world a kinder place.

IN REMEMBRANCE OF TIMES PAST

If now we can be together,
let us never forget
hard times in long shadows,
afraid of certain others guessing
we are lovers

True, we are still together,
even if some will say
the law’s an ass for treating
gay men and women the same
as everyone else

Yes, we are living together,
walking tall in the sun,
while some gay partners
still made to run the gamut
of Chinese whispers

Where cultural traditions
and world religions
accommodate each other,
let us take heart, be sure to play
our part

If now we can be together,
let us never forget
hard times in long shadows,
afraid of certain others guessing
we are lovers

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009; 2017

[Note: An earlier version of this poem first appeared under the title 'Chinese Whispers' in On the Battlefields of Love  by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]



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