Sunday, 3 June 2012

Holiday Romance

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

I was reminded of this poem as I got chatting to a couple of students in my favourite seaside resort of Brighton in East Sussex recently. Both were on holiday from Italy with a view to going to London for Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations this weekend. Having only met for the first time earlier in the day, they were plainly so enjoying each other’s company.

Could it be love, I wondered?

Whatever, holiday romances are meant to be enjoyed to the full.

Photo: Northumberland coast, taken by Judith Rhodes

Oh, to be young and so deliciously romantic again...!!! Ah, but you don’t have to be young, either, to enjoy romance and more.

HOLIDAY ROMANCE 

There's a shadow on the sand
that points across the sea
to a distant land - where once
you walked with me,
your hand in mine, our laughter
like spray in a summer breeze,
desire sparkling like diamonds
all around, our joy the key
to such rapturous harmony
of sea and shore as ever seen
by lovers who have surely passed
that way before

Even now, in a holiday crowd
I hear you laughing aloud
as I hoist our flag upon
a castle in the sand, dreaming
of that distant land - where once
we strayed and dared to dream,
each for the other, wage slaves
baying for the moon, knowing
our time together would be over,
too soon, and we saved all our tears
till after I had flown

Shadow on the sand placing us
2000 years on...

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears in Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2000.

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