Bonding with Eternity

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

I have written many love poems; this one is a favourite, written with a wonderful couple in mind who had been happily married for many years before one partner died; it has been slightly revised since its first appearance on the blog in 2013. As I said in a previous blog entry, I am currently preparing a new collection of poems; as always, I come across some with which, from a distance of months or years, I consider need some attention.

Now, it is so hard being left behind after loved one dies. Family and friends are a source of great comfort, and memories too. Even so, there can be no substitute for the real thing.

Ah, but where love is the real thing, be sure it inspires the mind to all things bright and beautiful, transcending the human body into the very spirit of its being, leaving a trail across time and space for others to follow. True, love has its ups and downs, good times and bad, but the more enlightened among us will always put our trust in its capacity for enduring joy.

Yes, we all die, but the love we have shared - in all its shapes and forms - lives on in a posthumous consciousness that will sustain us its spirit always; religion does not have a monopoly on spirituality, that privilege falls to love. The love of my life, my dear mother and others with whom I bonded closely... all remain with me, influencing my life for the better. 

As for those poison darts to which the poem refers, I dare say many if not most of us have some experience of those, whoever and wherever we are in a world whose greater tragedy is – as it has always been - that certain prejudices remain as common as garden flowers.

When my turn comes to accompany the Grim Reaper, I can but hope to haunt others, in the kindest way, so that part of us both will live on in that posthumous consciousness with which most of us feel the need to touch base from time to time, especially when the going gets tough. Religion does not have a monopoly on spirituality; the human spirit has a mind of its own.

This poem is a villanelle.

BONDING WITH ETERNITY 

It was love that opened up my heart
to all life means to me…
nor shall death our bonding part 

Sands of time, soulmates at the start,
(homing in on destiny?
it was love that opened up my heart 

May the world no finer truths impart
than in its natural beauty,
nor shall death our bonding part 

Like summer skies, stars, even clouds
charting a fragile humanity,
it was love that opened up my heart 

Be its taste on the tongue sweet or tart,
togetherness is a rare delicacy,
nor shall death our bonding part 

Sworn to survive any such poison dart
as a festering inhumanity,
it was love that opened up my heart,
nor shall death our bonding part

Copyright R. N. Taber 2007, 2019 

[Note: An earlier version of this poem appears under the same title in Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007; this poem also appears on my gay-interest blog today.]