Regeneration

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

Much as I love spending time with friends, I also enjoy being on my own which is just as well as I often am, even over Christmas and other 'family' occasions. I don’t mind. I have no partner and relations with my family are strained to say the least. For lovers the world over, though, kept apart by various socio-cultural-religious traditions that need to be brought into the 21^st century… for them, I do mind for I was young once, and it happened to me. I resented it then and I resent it now on behalf of star-crossed lovers everywhere.

After once posting this poem on my gay-interest blog some time ago, a number of heterosexual couples who dip into both blogs got in touch to say they how they could relate to it because they found themselves on opposite sides of this or that socio-cultural-religious divide. One couple said how they had never given much thought to the animosity often shown towards gay couples , until ‘we found ourselves victims of our respective cultures and prejudices that should have been put aside centuries ago…’

Christmas and other religious festivals are a time for families and friends to come together in a spirit of peace and love, yet many lovers are kept apart from each other simply because those same families and friends have tunnel vision and cannot see beyond certain socio-cultural-religious confines within which they have been taught and raised.

As for the poem…if you have ever  made love with someone and felt (almost seen) demons on their back trying to drag them away from you (or vice versa) you will understand how it came to be written.

It may well be that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it is a lonely heart that beats in a half empty bed …

REGENERATION

My lips crushed against yours

as rose petals between angry fingers,

body seeking to assuage a rage

in you doing battle with darker waves

even than in a storm,

I will the language of love to come

into its own, show you

how, together, we can defeat demons

trampling on your dreams,

intruding on mine, expose them

for who and what they are

beat them, hands down, at history’s

own vengeful game

For it is revenge that stirs them

to forage in your mind for feelings

of a darker kind than love

would choose to have on its side were it

freed from its cage;

a cage, indeed, woven by demons

to keep you from me;

though I rattle its bars with my desires,

let you feed and drink from them,

feel your pulse and confirm you live,

I cannot reach within,

only trust that, in a mutual adrenalin rush,

you’ll make a dash for freedom

I can feel your heart beating faster,

pulse growing stronger each time we kiss

and all but drown in love’s blood,

sweat and tears, making its confession

as only body language can

though words struggling to compensate

where the spirit stronger than ever

but flesh weakened by years of captivity

imposed by demon shadows,

ready to pounce at the first opportunity

once their existence threatened,

prisoners taken at past close encounters

actively considering alternatives

I can taste your guilt on my tongue,

slowly sliding down my throat like bile

as your sex begs me

to burst open your cage, free you

once and for all

from whatever spell written on whatever

page or pages of your history

making you stall even as you bid for a life

that’s full, no holds barred

to making the most of love’s true passion

if you’ll but dare fire its enemies

into a faceless oblivion

Explosion! The landscape of love laid bare

for regeneration

Copyright R. N. Taber 2008