Sadly,
hostile forces in the world (mostly human) confront and would diminish if not
defeat us at every turn. We can but square up to them and trust in the kinder
qualities of nature and human nature to see us right. True, that trust will not
always be justified; we can but hope…
Nor
should we (gay or straight) ever underestimate the power of love to expose its
adversaries for the disgrace to humanity that they are. Yes, including those (worldwide)
who advocate and take cover behind certain socio-cultural-religious traditions
by way of excuses.
To love, be
sure true humanity will allow the final victory in mind and spirit if not
always the body playing host at any given time…
SQUARING UP TO GARGOYLES
Shoreline
under siege, its conscience angrily
taking us
to task
Storm
clouds hanging low, seagulls screaming,
love
demanding answers
Waves
like gargoyles daring us run the gamut
of our passions
Ghosts, observing
from heaven’s towers as we
repeat
their mistakes
Humanity,
demanding we honour its spiritual
obligations
to love
Love, determined
to spare its native spirituality
the temporal
conventions
Conventions,
egging us on, applause in the ears
like
thunder
Wind,
howling like hunting hounds homing in
for the
kill
Can’t
think or speak. Storm, a coffin lid poised
to slam
shut
Suddenly,
rays of watery moonlight clambering
over the
dark’s ramparts
On
battlefields of sea and shore, love’s coalition
forces
converge on despair…
Wind and
waves, rearing and roaring, gargoyles
given a
make-over
No time
to die, but love, a victory nature intends
for us
all
Lovers, regardless of race, creed, sex or sexuality,
squaring
up to gargoyles
Love,
following a natural order eroding all history
my have chiselled
in stone
Copyright
Taber 2010; 2016
[Note: An earlier version of this
poem appears in On the
Battlefields of Love: poems by R. N.
Taber, Assembly Books, 2010.]
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