Hold the Dream

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

For the benefit of any new readers, I have been living with prostate cancer for 3+ years now.  However, there is no cause for alarm, as hormone therapy continues to prevent the cancer becoming aggressive. I am sharing this news with readers because so many men over 50 live in such fear of prostate cancer that they ignore early warning signs. Never feel embarrassed or fearful about seeing a doctor if you are worried about anything. The earlier these things are treated, the better the chances of survival. Better a false alarm than an opportunity lost.

While I feel fine most of the time, sometimes I feel quite stressed and so tired that it is an effort even to write up the blogs. Ah, but I do so like to say ‘hello’ to everyone. Besides, we all need to rise above tears now and then. Oh, but tears are healthy. Dear me, yes! And don’t let anyone ever tell you different. [That goes for male readers too.] Even so, there are times when a clown’s mask is hard to remove, especially for those whom we don’t wish to burden with our worst fears. We should remember, though, that loved ones and close friends would want us to share them just as we would expect to share theirs. [If we would rather not, our relationship falls a long way short of the true spirit of love and friendship.]

Never keep your troubles all bottled up inside until you are ready to crack or you will, yes, crack, just as I did many years ago and suffered a severe nervous breakdown from which it took me some years to recover.

Love asks that we talk to each other, not at each other.

Meanwhile…

This poem happens to be told from a gay perspective, but gay or straight [in Greek myth, Apollo was said to be bisexual] and whether or not you have met that special someone to share your life, be sure hold the dream. Never give up on it. Its inspiration will always be a force for good in your life and those whose lives you touch. If some dreams never come true, know that one beautiful dream will invariably feed another, helping to create hearts and minds with a capacity for letting peace and love come into their own.

Sharing someone's home may be a common enough experience, but sharing their heart...Now, that's really something.

HOLD THE DREAM 

Met at a dance,

drifted into romance later,

full summer moon,

misty as a priest’s glass eye;

voices in the wind

found us laughing or crying,

till morning stars

reminding us as we part

that life goes on

World ceasing

to turn, moment supreme;

voices in the wind

sighing 'Yes' to our first kiss;

never a night like this,

Earth Mother like a parent  

with certain reservations

about our intentions, a rush

of mixed blessings  

Come dawn, applause,

a tumble of clowns ringing

in the ears, we’ll take

our places in the Circus of Life,

to play down its worst fears,

acknowledge any unshed tears

while turning deaf ears

to voices deriding our choices  

for being ‘out of sync’

Find Apollo, love’s embers raking

for sleepyheads waking

Copyright R. N. Taber 2002; 2011; 2014

[Note: An earlier version of this poem edition appeared in an anthology, A Loving Grace, Poetry Now (Forward Press) 2002 and in my second collection, First Person Plural the same year.]