A Horseman Riding By

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

The original version of today’s poem was written in 1974 and appeared in my second collection. I have recently revised and extended it almost beyond recognition, which can happen sometimes when looking back over nearly forty years.

I neither regret my original poems not revising any of them later; just as a poet moves on, so can a poem. [I have no plans to die just yet, but when I do, I dare say my poetry blogs will eventually disappear from the Internet. I therefore intend to leave a permanent record of any revisions I have made to my poems in the form of e-books that I hope to publish in the not too distant future.]

Since early childhood, I have been fascinated by cloud shapes...

A HORSEMAN RIDING BY 

Out of the corner of an eye,

we saw a horseman passing by,

casting long shadows,

pricking the nerves, fair cutting

a dash in a cocked hat

Bold mare, playing her part;

humanity whipping sweat flanks 

to the finishing line;

free rein but to prove themselves,
and (maybe) win hearts 

Clouds passing, birds on wing

bringing us love songs, tall tales
and romantic poems;

a journey through time and space

to heaven knows where 

All secrets, lies, stereotypes

blown away on a kinder wind

than chases us, shouts
abuse every day, we gay lovers 
street cred found wanting 

Horseman in the sky, offering 

mind-body-spirit a free ride

into a dream where differences

co-exist peacefully, and no moral

high ground to put us down

Copyright R. N. Taber 2002; 2013 

[Note: An earlier version of this poem can be found in First Person Plural by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2002.]

G-A-Y (Another) Triumph of the Spirit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Some readers may be interested to know that have posted Chapter 1 of a new serial, Catching Up with Murder: a novel in three acts on my fiction blog. Hopefully, those readers who enjoyed Predisposed to Murder will also enjoy meeting up with many of the same characters and discovering how they first came together.

Catching Up with Murder is available in paperback from amazon and could well be described as a black comedy in parts; it is not a gay novel as such, but has a strong gay story line that becomes clear and takes off in Act II:

http://rogertaberfiction.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/catching-up-with-murder-chapter-1.html

Meanwhile…

No matter how the less enlightened among the heterosexual majority might try, you can’t keep a free spirit down…

G-A-Y (ANOTHER) TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT

Once I was scared to admit I am gay,

for falling victim to a parental dismay

that might see me retract what I say

In nightmares, I’d confess I am gay,

family disowning me, driving me away;

friends, too, let ignorance win the day

Alone I would struggle with an identity

taunting me with its desire to be free,

haunting me with a passionate cruelty

I was hostage to the old misconception

that would trust a blinkered perception

of life and love than the  heart’s intuition

Then I met you and learned to see again

as if through a sweet-smelling misty rain,

tears of Earth Mother nurturing her own

My heart, it opened its petals to the sky,

heaven glad to absolve a sorry soul its lie,

let truth, to these lips, unashamedly fly

Though some condemn us for being gay,

love and friendship will always find a way

through seasonal mists, come what may

  

[From: On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books 2010.]