https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Today's poem was written in 1980. An earlier version appeared in my first major poetry collection Love And Human Remains (2001); the first volume in a quartet of books. I only planned to publish the quartet as I wasn’t sure how including gay material in general collections might be received. However, sales and feedback encouraged me to publish three further collections in 2007, 2010 and 2012.
I live in hope that a mainstream poetry publisher may yet come forward who sees a place for gay-interest and general poems in the same volume...but am not holding my breath.
Meanwhile…
What is life without love? Barely worth a heartbeat, true, but it can be a long, hard journey for any LGBT folks growing up and/ or living in a cultural environment where bigotry threatens every step they take.
THE LONGEST JOURNEY
Love, it has many faces,
some gay, some not,
journeys many places,
laughs, cries a lot;
no finer friend you’ll find
to share peace of mind
whenever demons on the brain
come again, again
for its soul...or else we
fall
Love, it has many faces,
comforts, scares us
in least expected places;
tearful, sublime,
captive of its time in a world
not of our choice,
where only its kinder voices
come again, again
to ease the soul...or else
we fall
Love, it has many reasons,
asks questions, tells lies;
a face for all our seasons
where its needs fly
in the face of human sorrows,
through kinder tomorrows,
brave hearts on wing, no matter
all that's dragging
on the soul...or else
we fall
Love, it shows a friend’s face,
to bitter-sweet demands,
ever at your heart’s command,
as vulnerable as any
to the world's darker sorrows
for all its heavenly light
keeps burning, the better to free
mind-body-spirit
for an epic roaming...or else
we fail
Copyright R. N. Taber, 1996;2000
[Note: An earlier version of this poem first appeared in August and Genet by R. N. Taber (Wire Poetry Booklets, 12) Aramby Publishing, 1996; I also published it on my general poetry blog but later deleted it as a stream of troll-like email feedback became both boring and time-consuming, and I never post comments.]
Today's poem was written in 1980. An earlier version appeared in my first major poetry collection Love And Human Remains (2001); the first volume in a quartet of books. I only planned to publish the quartet as I wasn’t sure how including gay material in general collections might be received. However, sales and feedback encouraged me to publish three further collections in 2007, 2010 and 2012.
I live in hope that a mainstream poetry publisher may yet come forward who sees a place for gay-interest and general poems in the same volume...but am not holding my breath.
Meanwhile…
What is life without love? Barely worth a heartbeat, true, but it can be a long, hard journey for any LGBT folks growing up and/ or living in a cultural environment where bigotry threatens every step they take.
THE LONGEST JOURNEY
Love, it has many faces,
some gay, some not,
journeys many places,
laughs, cries a lot;
no finer friend you’ll find
to share peace of mind
whenever demons on the brain
come again, again
for its soul...or else we
fall
Love, it has many faces,
comforts, scares us
in least expected places;
tearful, sublime,
captive of its time in a world
not of our choice,
where only its kinder voices
come again, again
to ease the soul...or else
we fall
Love, it has many reasons,
asks questions, tells lies;
a face for all our seasons
where its needs fly
in the face of human sorrows,
through kinder tomorrows,
brave hearts on wing, no matter
all that's dragging
on the soul...or else
we fall
Love, it shows a friend’s face,
to bitter-sweet demands,
ever at your heart’s command,
as vulnerable as any
to the world's darker sorrows
for all its heavenly light
keeps burning, the better to free
mind-body-spirit
for an epic roaming...or else
we fail
Copyright R. N. Taber, 1996;2000
[Note: An earlier version of this poem first appeared in August and Genet by R. N. Taber (Wire Poetry Booklets, 12) Aramby Publishing, 1996; I also published it on my general poetry blog but later deleted it as a stream of troll-like email feedback became both boring and time-consuming, and I never post comments.]
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