Anthem Played on a Grass Harp

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

Some years ago, the children of friends of mine married without the blessing of their parents because both sets of parents disapproved of the match because is a lot older than her. Neither could accept their grown-up children’s choice of life partner. As it is, they have missed out on all the pleasures of being grandparents and seeing their grandchildren grow up.

Among all prejudices, ageism is often seen as the ‘poor relation’ but it can devastate lives as much and as needlessly as any other form of prejudice, whether it be based on the colour of a person’s skin, the nature of their sexuality or... whatever.

The couple in question had celebrated their silver wedding anniversary and were very happy until the younger partner died in a car accident. Only then did the families rally round and try to make peace “for the sake of the grandchildren...” Better late than never, I suppose, but so much time wasted, so many golden opportunities missed.

Prejudice in any shape or form doesn’t only eat away at a person’s mind-body-spirit, however much he or she may resist and rise above it, but can destroy families, even communities that are the chief losers in a human equation that will never quite add up until certain people see sense and recognise that all good people have a right to live their lives as they see fit, whether or not it quite adds up to what others might prefer.

I have seen prejudice drive people to crime, even suicide; such a waste of human potential. Whatever happened to respecting and making the best of our loved one’s choices for the good of everyone concerned? Driving home a point from a which misplaced pride refuses to let us budge can so easily make losers of us all.

ANTHEM PLAYED ON A GRASS HARP

Watery sun dripping through trees,
leaves sparkling like jewels in a crown
where we’d wander, my love and I,
ears pricking up at a chick’s first cry,
looking out for others flapping their way
on first flights through dawn rainbows
till gliding with ease as nature meant
for us all, although less so among humans,
a species well known for thinking they
know better than Earth Mother, wishing
them ill (and Hell) who resist straitjackets
and persist in walking tall

On a magic carpet of many colours,
among daisies passing for fairies
in a palace of dreams, we’d go free,
where all prejudices and bigotry
mean less than a fair breeze in the face,
Earth Mother’s caress in the hair,
reminding us how we are, one and all,
as nature intended, no one creature
any more or less precious than another,
each, in their own way, a ‘live’
testament to mind-body-spirit and a history
lending meaning to eternity

We arrived where the carpet
tuned into stone, where no sun shining,
only Shadows, a gathering of forces
preparing to take humanity on and win
any fight it may choose to pick,
no matter rights and wrongs (or alternative
points of view); for them, a certainty
that the world has no place for men, women
and young people whose sexuality
offends a majority choosing to make stand
on a Ship of Fools in a gale force wind, set on
making sense of humankind

Oh, but spring in our hair like jewels in a crown
Love takes for its own!

Copyright R.N. Taber 2010; rev.2021

Note: This poem appears on both poetry blogs today and has recently been significantly revised since first appearing in my collection On the Battlefields of Love by R. N. Taber, Assembly Book, 2010.] 

(Another) Window on Christmas

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

A reader wonders why the Government here are prepared to put people at risk by relaxing Covid-19 safety regulations for Christmas, but not other religious celebrations that have come and gone since the pandemic began. We are, he reminds us, a multicultural society, after all.  A good point, I think, although I do not subscribe to any religion myself other than a feeling for Pantheism.. 

Whatever, we are a common humanity, after all.

Another reader asks for " … at least one more Christmas poem to see us through what may well be a very difficult time for many of us this year.” 

Hopefully, today’s poem may go some way towards satisfying both readers.

Take care, everyone,

Hugs, 

Roger

(ANOTHER) WINDOW ON CHRISTMAS

It’s redbreast’s song bursts on my ears
as at my window I watch snowflakes fall,
missing you so, wishing we could share
such gifts of love as meant for one and all 

In the distance, I can hear bells bringing
tidings meant to fill sad hearts with cheer,
spread thoughts of peace and goodwill
where much of the world left living in fear 

Caught in a window’s wintry reflection,
I watch tearstained faces reach for the sky,
weepy eyes smiling for a moment divine,
as Apollo drops by and blesses us, you and I 

This mind-body-spirit uniting with yours,
though Covid-19 bent on keeping us apart;
love, it makes us one, and all the stronger,
for distance means little to the human heart 

It’s Love’s song, bursting Christmas at its seams
with humanity's dearest desires and dreams…

Copyright R. N. Taber, 2020

[Note: This poem also appears on my general poetry blog today.] RT

Stereotypes, Daggers in the Heart

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

This poem first appeared on the blog in 2016.

I am not happy with the new blogger and wasn't when I was invited to try it some time ago. I had hoped we bloggers might  be given a choice  to continue in the old format, but it appears not, so I may not be blogging here for much longer. It is typical - in my personal experience - that so many people and organizations, even some shops, give little thought to how many older people like myself  - who do not have i-phones or android and struggle with internet technology, are easily confused, especially those of us living alone and have been struggling with other health issues long before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, I will see how I get on with the new format, but am not optimistic.

I am often asked to repeat the link to my informal poetry reading on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square as my contribution to Sir Antony Gormley's One and Other 'live' sculpture' project in 2009. The entire web stream of 2400 hours is archived in the British Library:

.

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223121732/oneandother.co.uk/participants/Roger_T  [ [NB: The British Library have confirmed that the video is no longer available as it was incompatible with a new IT system. However, it still exists and BL hope to reinstate it and make it available to the public again at some future date.] RNT

To suggest all gay men are paedophiles is every bit as absurd as it is to suggest everyone from any one socio-cultural-religious group is a terrorist. Tragically, stereotypes have a nasty habit of spreading and some people start mistaking them for truths which they duly pass on ...

I was only 14 years-old when I realised I am gay. Men I encountered at local gay cruising grounds were no paedophiles; on the contrary, they taught me how to think better of myself after being raised to think homosexuality is shameful. I did not feel able to come out to the world as a gay man for some years, not least because same sex relationships were illegal here in the UK until 1969; neither was I able to quite shake off the hostility I had met towards those like myself until much later, but thanks to those early encounters I was eventually encouraged to do so.  

The less enlightened among the heterosexual majority tend to forget that gay boys and girls, too, need to learn about sexual relationships; it is vital that sexual/ gender identity issues are discussed openly and intelligently in schools everywhere - including Faith Schools - so that children do not grow up with false, if not warped impressions, of what it means to be gay, bisexual, transgender or simply confused, even frightened by the way they start to identify with their sexuality as their teenage years kick in.. 

Sadly, various socio-cultural-religious agendas do no one who is not a diehard heterosexual any favours; consequently, even in a supposedly 'enlightened' twenty-first century, there are LGBT folks around the world, from all walks of life, forced to live their lives in the shadows or - worse - some dark lonely closet, such as I once did for years.

STEREOTYPES, DAGGERS IN THE HEART 

I’ll be your friend a child told an old man,

but he shook his grey head, sighing;

the child took careworn hands in his own,

sad to see already rheumy eyes crying

I’d love to be your friend said the old man

but some people will get the wrong idea;

they’ll be looking at you and looking at me,

and feeding old lies to imagination, I fear

It’s time I was on my way said the old man,

I’ve been warming this bench too long.

"Go child, and have fun, as much as you can,

it doesn’t last, innocence, being young…"

The child ran off, puzzled by catching Gran

throw daggers at the kindly, lonely old man

Copyright R. N. Taber 2005; 2016

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in A Feeling for the Quickness of Time by R. N. Taber. 2005.]

L-O-V-E, Survivors

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

Today’s poem first appeared on the blogs in 2016, ad has since been (slightly) revised.

Staying positive and trying to keep looking on the bright side of life has never been harder for many of us than now as the Covid-19 coronavirus continues to take its toll around the world. Essentially, I am a positive thinking person; even so, life has a nasty habit of contriving circumstances likely to make us think differently, circumstances which, for whatever reason, spot a chink in our psychological armour and send us into free fall ...

Many years ago, my lie took a turn for the worse (not the first time) and I had a bad nervous breakdown; unable to see a way through it, I attempted suicide. Fortunately, life forces I cannot begin to describe kicked in, and I started to see something of the wood through its trees. I recall telling a doctor, "I can't do this." His reply has stayed with me ever since. "Yes, you can," he said, "... just tell yourself over and over that you will get through it, and you will. Better still, focus on all the positive things you want to do that giving up now will never let you, and go with the damn flow, man, go with the flow." 

So … I went with the damn flow, and survived to tell the tale.

Good or bad, we make the world we live in and it is up to all of us to try and make it a better one.

Humanity's rage to live for love and the greater good will always defeat its enemies in the end.

Looking on the bright side of life may not always be easy, but human beings have a natural capacity for love, in all its shapes and forms, and the more we can focus on that the better. 

(Did I say it would be easy...?) 

This poem is a villanelle.

L-O-V-E, SURVIVORS

Though bigotry and hate thrive 

among the world’s power brokers,

it’s love that will see us survive

Always, people willing to drive

forces for good to the aid of others,

though bigotry and hate thrive

While terrorist-led plots connive

to mock this world’s peacemakers,

it's love that will see us survive

Open heart and mind ever contrive

to expose the worst attention seekers,

though bigotry and hate thrive

If life giving forces as bees to hive,

(a warning sting for potential takers)

it’s love that will see us survive

As sure to keep freedom's name alive,

as frustrate its would-be code breakers;

though bigotry and hate thrive,

it’s love that will see us survive 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016, 2020

Getting the Better of Bigotry

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

Like many if not most gay men of my generation, I have found myself in a few tight corners over the years.

Now, this poem is not strictly autobiographical, but so easily could be. However, it is based on a tale told to me by a one of many wonderful, anonymous, strangers with whom there was a time I would spend many a happy hour (or more)  getting merry (and inwardly debating potential for…whatever) in the heyday of London’s gay bars… (Today’s gay bars are just not the same, ask anyone over 50.)

Sadly, though, I have to say that (yes, even in predominantly gay-friendly London) homophobia is still alive and kicking. Some people are born bigots, regardless of their origins, while multiculturalism does gay people no favours either in the sense that many cultures are intrinsically homophobic, and the more deeply entrenched among us refuse to adapt to a changing world.

GETTING THE BETTER OF BIGOTRY

I’d be walking down a street,

and they would shout after me,

call me a nasty name

I can’t repeat because it makes me

feel, oh, so sick inside,

and there was nowhere to hide;

I’d just go on my way,

asking myself why they hate me

just because I’m gay,

do they even (really) know

themselves…?

I’d be in the local library

and they would surround me,

ape nasty gestures

I can’t describe because it makes me

feel, oh, so bad inside

where there’s nowhere to hide;

I’d just walk away,

asking myself if maybe it’s true

what some people say,

that we never (really) know

our true selves

It was in the local park,

where they ganged up on me,

pulled knives

and I was scared because it made me

feel, oh, so angry inside

and I did not want to hide

or walk away

but told them what I’d learned

the hard way

that only cowards (really) run

from themselves

It was getting dark,

as they closed in for the kill,

just for kicks,

and I braced myself for the fight

of my life, no matter what,

and I didn’t give a thought

how it might end

then someone yelled ‘Police!’

and suddenly

the gang scattered and left me

to myself

I shook my head

as if to clear it of rage and fear,

but in vain,

as through hot tears I saw you

for the very first time,

and I knew you even then

for the stranger

in dreams since just a child,

feelings running wild,

needing someone to love me

for myself

We’re walking down a street,

and people nod knowingly at us

but quickly look away

as we nod knowingly back,

smiles on our faces

because we’re going places

they cannot follow

for we’re going all the way

to where couples the world over 

let love have its way,

and being gay is okay, we have

each other

Copyright R N. Taber 2015

A Singular Take on Moon Shadows

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

Whatever our ethnicity, creed, gender or sexuality, love does not discriminate. Moreover, its continuum across time and space contributes positively to our future, leaving the small-minded, ignorant, socio-cultural-religious bigots among behind for all their hue and cry…

I may speak as a gay man, but of course it isn't only gay people worldwide who are attacked for falling in love and leaping socio-cultural-religious trenches. We only have to look at the Sudan right now where a Muslim woman faces a barbaric death for falling in love with and marrying a Christian. Others, too, worldwide are persecuted for various socio-cultural-religious reasons. Whatever happened to civilisation...?

Now I well remember gazing into the night sky with my late partner many years ago. We were going through a rough patch at the time although our troubles were coming at us from outside not inside our relationship. ‘Hey, look, he cried, ‘The Old Man in the Moon is smiling. Well, he must be able to see what we can’t from all those light years away so I guess we should stop worrying, take each day as it comes and...be happy, yeah?'

I agreed, so we did, and we were during the short time we had together before he died. Even so, love never dies and we remain close.

A SINGULAR TAKE ON MOON SHADOWS

We lay, my gay love and I,

in craters of the moon,

watching satellites crash by,

guiding stars shot down;

of sanctuary, we saw no sign

for such as you and I,

and only craters of the moon

offered us even shelter

Saw the galaxy disintegrate

as The Old Man warned

humanity of tempting a fate

worse than Armageddon

save for we who shall remain

to dare live and let live,

give our all to starting over

in peace and love

In time, may all gay lovers lie

among craters of the moon,

guiding lights in a darker sky

than any heavens deserve,

on the killing fields of bigotry,

see politics and religion

surrender centuries of hypocrisy

to a common humanity

Gay lovers, see the Old Man smile

and go (for us) that extra mile

Copyright R. N. Taber 2008, rev. 2014 

Love's Take On Multiculturalism

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

I received the oddest email yesterday. A reader had some kind words for my poems but asks, ‘What is the point unless you can be counted among the great poets?’

This reader has answered his or her own question.  There is every point in writing poems if even just one person enjoys reading them.

So I am not a ‘great’ poet.  Do I care?  It is more than enough for me that both poetry blogs are read dail worldwide.

Too many cultures persist with a taboo on mixed-culture relationships. This is especially hard on those people, especially young people, living in a modern multicultural society.  Love has no time for such taboos and only asks that we respect its global identity.

It is no betrayal of culture, family or whatever to fall in love. Love brings shame on no one, and I include gay relationships. Those who see it as some kind of shameful betrayal are not only out of step with love, but out of step with their own culture for interpreting it by book rather than by heart; parents and other family members need to remind themselves that where any cultural responsibilities appear to override their love for children and siblings, the potential for shame lies not within that culture but within themselves. 

It is down and up to younger generations to break down old taboos once and for all, and as I look around me I can definitely see light at the end of that particular tunnel, but it is a long tunnel and long way to go yet before everyone gets to enjoy the sunshine; nor is there any need for compromise, just a common understanding of what drives the human spirit.

As I have said before and almost certainly will again, our differences do not make us different, only human, and we are all part of that global consciousness that comprises a common humanity; we need to respect each other's differences, not malign them.

LOVE’S TAKE ON MULTICULTURALISM 

As I put my lips to yours
they part to let my flame enter you,
its heat moulding us
into a live love-sculpture portraying
the true meaning of life

As the flame goes to work
on firing a peace offering to all those
who reject our love,
the raw scars of suffering peel away
like layers of an onion

As we dive and swim freely
where waters of the womb have risen
to offer us sanctuary
from wildfires threatening extinction,
we head for infinity

We reach a sandy shore,
our healing selves embraced by palms
whose leaves caress
where cruel hands would not long since 
have denied us a hearth

Oh, heaven, this splendid place;
if a dream, as real and far more likely 
to inspire angel choirs
than conflict among opposite numbers
in temporal divisions

Sadly, we must rise and leave
to make our way in this 'modern' world,
still a slave to its past
for all its fine rhetoric about fair play
in a free society

Yet, we have found a place
where no socio-cultural-religious spite
can keep us apart
though it snatch us up and spit us out
for breaking its rules

Find us among arts and streets,
recreating love’s custom-made models,
nor a finer take on life
than sex, sexuality, ethnicity or creed
reworking its humanity

Copyright R. N. Taber 2012

Challenging the Status Quo

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

Among other things, the Olympic Games bring people together, athletes and spectators alike, from all walks of life regardless of colour, creed, sex or sexuality...which has to be a GOOD thing for all of us whether we are sports mad or not.

This poem is a kenning. I wrote it on my late partner’s birthday; we were only together a few years, but I cherish the memory of our love and some great times together.

Love is a fine pacemaker; pair it with pain and we are well-equipped to run the gamut of this sorry world’s testing times and places.

May the collective spirit of the Olympic Games endure for London 2012 and across the world long, long afterwards... [Oh, and wouldn't be great if more gay sportsmen and women set a good example and came out for us all?]

We gay people may be a relative minority, but we are a very significant (and growing) minority;we continue to help set the pace for change in societies and communities where, for far too long, socio-cultural-religious conventions have turned blind eyes and deaf ears.

CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

I am a cry in the night,

world cocking but half an ear

to heads like waves
on a feisty sea of pillows

in need of laundering

come morning if only to hide

tell-tale patches
of grief, guilt, loss of face

or worse ...

I am tears in the rain

no one able to tell I am crying,
no matter a part of me

is dying for want of showing
a kinder side than seen

by those who have no pity

for the likes of a cry

in the night or tears in the rain

soon forgotten

I am shadows in twilight,

made to witness darker deeds
than any God imagined

or else He (or She) would never

have laid life on me

but left me to pass like a dream

across time and space,

no cries or tears or fretting

about losing face

I am the voice of the human heart,
call me Mind-Body-Spirit

Copyright R N Taber 2012. 2019

[Note; An earlier version of this poem appears in Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012]

Just a Question of Love

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

Today’s poem has appeared twice on the blog before, the last time in 2010. It takes its title from a delightful and moving gay movie of the same name (in translation) Juste une Question d’Amour; it was first shown on French television in January 2000.

There was a time, especially in the 1980's and early 1990's, that Channel 4 here showed a variety of mainstream gay films, but we rarely see any on British television these days. [By mainstream, I mean an alternative to the kind of soft porn stuff that’s easy enough to come by. No worries there, but I for one enjoy a good story line with believable characters. Titles like The Torchsong Trilogy, Beautiful Thing, Get Real and Brokeback Mountain instantly spring to mind...]

We rarely even hear any discussion on gay issues here, either on TV or radio. Could it be that broadcasters are afraid of offending the less enlightened among the heterosexual majority, increasing in numbers all the time in a multicultural society in which various socio-cultural-religious hang-ups invariably include homophobia?

Now, as I have said many times, love does not discriminate so why should anyone? Sometimes I wonder, are we really living in the 21^st century?

Even nowadays, many gay people are made to feel they have to choose between sexuality and family, friends, culture, entire home environment. No one should have to make such a choice anywhere in the world. and no one has the right to impose it on anyone.  

This poem is a villanelle.

JUST A QUESTION OF LOVE 

As spring rain from above

on Earth Mother in pain;

it's just a question of love

As push comes to shove,

so love into its own,

as spring rain from above

The healing wing of a dove

will learn to fly again;

it’s just a question of love

Love has nothing to prove;

a bigot’s loss, its gain,

as spring rain from above

See a hand torn from glove

beat cold and pain;

it’s just a question of love

If nature’s sexuality prove

as precious a bane

as spring rain from above,

it’s just a question of love

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

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

Divisions Of The Heart

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

If any of you have clicked on the link to my poetry reading in Trafalgar Square in 2009, you will have heard me read this poem:

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100223121732/oneandother.co.uk/participants/Roger_T  [For now, at least, this link needs the latest Adobe Flash Player  and works best in Firefox; the aerhives website cannot run Flash but changes scheduled for later this year may well mean the link will open without it. Ignore any error message and give it a minute or so to start up. The video lasts an hour. ] RT 2018

I felt I had to read it because it is so hard for gay men and women from various socio-cultural-religious backgrounds that remain intrinsically homophobic.

On the whole, feedback was very positive, but I did receive some hate mail too, which only goes to show that homophobia is alive and kicking even in the ‘liberal’ West.

I live in London and would say it’s a great city in which to be gay although it has to be said I have the distinct impression that multiculturalism is slowly but surely contradicting me; there has been a significant rise in attacks on gay men here in recent years. At the same time, I have no hesitation in condemning potentially racist and homophobic organisations like the British National Party that are even more to blame for fanning the flames of prejudice and hate crime across Britain and the rest of Europe.

When will they ever learn?  Oh, when will they ever learn...?

DIVISIONS OF THE HEART

I once met a man with ebony skin

who opened up his heart to let me in

and took me to his bed one night

where we made love until first light

My heart cries out to such as he

whose soulful words said differently;

even as we kissed with passion

he shed tears for his own crucifixion

He explained why we must part,

keep safe this one secret of the heart

he longed to shout out to a world

that would see him fall on its sword

Where the humanity in any culture

in denial of aspects of human nature

finding with God no less favour

for daring to take a same sex lover?

He left, the man with ebony skin

who opened up his heart to let me in;

in dreams, we’ll go there again,

set free, we victims of cruel division

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

Chance Meeting

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

[Update Jan 25th 2019]: More on The Black Cap in the campaign to re-open one of the oldest gay venues in the UK:

https://www.change.org/p/the-new-owners-of-the-black-cap-reopen-the-black-cap/u/23937802?s_tk=Agc3wqRCQSleAdq6TVwAAXicyyvNyQEABF8BvLQoloI6mH74pLuPk0flDZU%3D&utm_campaign=e4e4164373794ef48ed0205e9aaee85e&utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_term=cs 

Fingers crossed... as too many gay bars are closing. Meanwhile, homophobia is alive and kicking. Gay and gay-friendly men and women will always need somewhere to meet, drink, and have fun in a safe environment. There are plenty of us, for goodness sake. No gay bar needs to go to the wall.]

Meanwhile...

Now, although gay relationships were decriminalised here in the UK in 1967, it was not until the late 1990's that attitudes began to soften towards us.  I have to say that now I have that sinking again as multiculturalism is slowly but surely turning the clock backwards. Regular readers will know that I have nothing against multiculturalism in principle; on the contrary, I would welcome it with open arms, but for the fact that so many people from various socio-cultural-religious backgrounds have not only brought their native prejudices - including homophobia - to the UK but also appear to be nurturing them; if it is a minority, it is a very significant and increasingly vocal one. Thank goodness for an openhearted, open minded majority, and long may it remain one.

Now, time spent looking for close encounters of the intimate kind can sometimes result in BIG disappointments. (Oh, and how!) Ah, yes, but it only takes one unforgettable moment on one unforgettable occasion with one unforgettable person to make up for all of them...

CHANCE MEETING

In a smoky gloom,
I watched you standing there,
idly running cruisy fingers
through hair kissed by stray sunshine
flickering through shutters
set to glower the world outside,
nursing us on the inside
to a comfortable anonymity,
and you glanced at me
then flung your eyes back into a pool
of drowning men
shrieking so if silently for rescue
despite dog-paddle gestures
defying their distress like the rhythm
of a hit pop song pulling at heart strings
repudiating our loneliness

Gathering up a casual air,
I spoke to you, let the lilt of your voice
wash over me like a friendly
shower after a bad dream as we talked
comfortably while loud music
screened all ghosts from us, inciting
a temporary deliverance;
we went outside into a gentler
conspiracy of noon sounds
urging us to hurry to a kinder place
where my hands may freely frame
your face, my lips on yours, your body
answering mine, all threat receding,
life forces we had all but given up on
now reconciling with body, mind and spirit,
turning us inside out

Copyright R. N. Taber 1998; 2012

[Note: This poem has been (slightly) revised from an earlier version that has appeared in several poetry magazines before and since I included it in 1st eds. of Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001; revised ed. in e-format in preparation.] 

G-A-Y, as Written in the Stars

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

This poem has not appeared on the blog since April 2009 and it saddens me today to post it for ‘Mark’ whose boyfriend was killed in a homophobic attack ‘...in his own country, by members of his own race and blinkered culture only a few years ago.’ I have no details. Tragically, the murder could have been committed by just about any ignorant, intolerant, homophobe anywhere in the world; there are plenty of them still, just as there plenty of gay men and women enduring pain and misery in secret for that very reason.

The poem was written for lovers everywhere whose love, for whatever reason, is frowned upon by family, friends and those in high places who have us in a stranglehold, yet could so easily change things for the better if they had any sense of human decency.

Countries like Uganda, Iran and parts of the Arab World may spring immediately to mind, but our hearts go out to gay men and women worldwide who live in fear of imprisonment and worse should their sexuality become public knowledge.Even in the so-called 'liberal' West, families are still divided by a son or daughter's declaration that they are gay. Oh, we have come a long way since I was a gay schoolboy in an era when same sex relationships were a criminal offence, but there is a long way still to go before our sexuality is universally accepted as something perfectly natural and incidental rather than a major issue.

It is high time certain people put their socio-cultural-religious bigotry aside and accepted the fact that we are all equal in a common humanity and that none of us can help with whom we fall in love. Here in the UK, for example, many immigrants bring their historical prejudices with them; the result is many scared gay boys and girls, men and women having to tread on eggshells between the world from which their families came and the one in which they are growing up.


G-A-Y, AS WRITTEN IN THE STARS

At the farthest edge of twilight,
where the sky a misty blue,
we’d haunt the shores of love
where dreams come true ...
We’d pause at its quiet places,
fall into each other’s arms,
enjoy Earth Mother’s embraces,
employ her feisty charms

Oh, kisses tasting of yesterdays
closing in on us like stars
shaping the world’s tomorrows
set aside for (all) its lovers!
Our bodies joined as day to night,
we’d surf life’s raging sea
at the farthest edge of a twilight
hinting at eternity...
Come splendid night, we’d lie
and wonder at its glories;
each star, a kiss shared by lovers
in other centuries ...
At daybreak, dreamers waking
to proceed as chisels to stone
at a love marked for the taking
once its battles won...

On a cruel sea of local dissent,
among wreaths of flowers,
we were despatched prematurely
to a place among the stars
at the farthest edge of twilight
where a misty blue sky
haunts the shores of such a love
as shared by you and I

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007