A Poet's Blog: Roger N.Taber shares his thoughts & poems...

Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian and poet-novelist.- "Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Sexuality ... these are but parts of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to critical emails about my poetry. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

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Location: London, United Kingdom

Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.

Monday, 22 April 2013

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.]

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