C'est Magnifique (In any Language)

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

Now, regular readers will know I have written many love poems, often with my late partner in mind, but not with heavy sadness or regret but immense thankfulness for the relatively short time we had together many years ago when I was still in my early 20's ....

At the same time, as always, I try to ’open up’ my poems to lift them beyond the personal so that anyone can access and follow reflective thoughts of their own. (Win some, lose some.) 

C'EST MAGNIFIQUE (IN ANY LANGUAGE)

No grief

finer than a kiss, inflicting

mortality on this body

that's barely spent with our

lovemaking, caressing

lips with secret smile, seeking

the Creator, Destroyer

in us all with Delilah’s gall,

starry-eyed Samson set up

for star pupil

No madness

in the weirdest shadows

flirting with twilight,

teasing the sun’s embers

with a scattering of stars

brighter by far than the eyes

haunting this mortal frame;

only sadness for a leaf,

that's fallen here at our feet

before its time

No tears

(a misty rain in the wind)

nor cries from the heart

but a nightingale for others

of our kind, covering us

like a death sheet as a mark

of respect for this ultimate

reckoning, proud Cassiopeia

sharing out gifts among regrets

like falling stars

Ah, c'est magnifique

Copyright R. N. Taber 1999; 2011

[Note: an earlier version of this poem  appeared under the title 'Affairs of the Heart' in the anthology, A United Voice, Poetry Now (Forward Press) 1999 and the poetry magazine Fire (17) in 2002 as well as my first major collection, Love and Human Remains by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2001. Fire has since ceased publication, but can still be accessed on-line via the Poetry Library archives.]