Safe and Sound

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

Today, another revised post-poem from a year or so ago. 

Now, whenever people often tell me that they hate winter, the cold and snow, I am inclined to agree while Muse enjoys letting cosy fires conjure up such images of comfort and joy as can be relied on to home in on a more positive approach to past-present-future.    

Home, is where the heart is, is it not? More often than not, it is people, not a place, unless it is a place of special significance for us, not least because of those with whom we visited it and shared happy memories. My mother once described winter as 'a very happy-sad time'; it would be many years before I quite understood what she meant. 

The best of nature and human nature is a door that is open to us all 24/7, whatever season of mind-body-spirit in which we may find ourselves at any given time, for whatever reason. For many, it opens the way to comfort zones that will inspire and see us through thick and thin all our lives, no matter our gender, religion, culture, sexuality...for as long as we choose to dwell on the positives in our lives even as we tackle the negatives. 

Although unwell at the moment, I still practise what I preach in so far as I continue to look on the bright(er) side of life through just such a door...

SAFE AND SOUND

In winters of the heart,
no sweeter thoughts than of love
to thaw frozen cockles
by fires rekindling kinder landscapes.
taking us further even
than the eye can see for having us focus
on a collage of positive thoughts

Oh, such times past
that lift even the mind-body-spirit
through its wintry days;
a child’s delight in the sheer poetry
of rainbows, flowers, trees,
in awe of the natural world, no sense (yet)
of its ever being taken for granted! 

Oh, such times past
as homing in on love in all its shapes
and forms, journeys
of a lifetime sure to keep family, friends
and lovers among sunny skies,
oblivious to any spoilsport clouds gathering
with more than mischief in mind! 

Oh, such times past,
inviting the adrenaline to flow as fast
and furious as any river,
every vein throbbing so for the first thrill
of being in love, and reason
to hope it will be returned in full, last forever,
one in the eye for its naysayers! 

Oh, such times past
as kept busy weeding out the poorer
to leave the very best
more space to grow, time for nurture, present
and future in the balance,
a kinder humanity sure to reap its own rewards, 
the rest but left out in the cold! 

In winters of the heart,
no warmer thoughts than of love to thaw
any frozen cockles,
let gentle, evergreen landscapes, further even
than the eye can see,
inspire mind-body-spirit to make such journeys
as sure to see it return safe and sound 

Copyright R. N. Taber 2020

Life, Sunny Side Up

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

A reader has emailed about yesterday’s poem in so far as to ask “You have a gay poetry blog so what on earth is a gay poem doing on this (general) blog. If anyone readers are in the least bit interested, they know where to look. I enjoy many of your poems, but don’t expect to find gay stuff …"

Well, a poem is a poem is a poem, whatever the content, and if the reader cares to look closely, he will see that it is not a gay poem except in the sense that gay folks, like most if not all of us, are capable of jealousy; it is, after all, a common human trait. A gay man, I choose to write both general and gay-interest poetry not only for my own pleasure, but also to remind us all that there is more to any of us than our sexuality; readers are as welcome to make up their own minds about the poem as they are about the poet.

Meanwhile …

Today’s poem touched on a theme to which I return to time and again, the enduring power of love and its related consciousness - ‘live’ or posthumous - offering any mind-body-spirit a safe and happy haven from its worldly woes.

LIFE, SUNNY SIDE UP 

There is a place I know
where the sun always shines,
children playing,
adults engaging in cheerful chat,
where all time spent is sheer magic
nor any Covid-19 to spoil it

There is a place I know
that lets human spirits go free
from troubled minds,
encourages human hearts to look,
learn, love, even be happy, no lifting
it from a favourite storybook 

There is a place I know
that’s an open secret between
family and friends,
lovers, too, accessible to any of us
who believe in a common humanity,
for all its common weaknesses 

It’s a place I got to know
during early years, kept as close
as hand on heart,
no need for any rose-tinted glasses
just a growing sense of live and let live,
a global shortage of glass houses 

So, what and where, a place
any loved one can rediscover joy,
this dream-come-true?
it’s that home from home intimacy
that endures just for sharing it with you,
within and beyond living memory

Where time invites us to enter its portals,
choose well, and revisit love’s immortals

 Copyright R. N. Taber, 2020