‘Marie’ has been in touch to say she and her family enjoyed
my poetry reading on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square back in July
2009 and would I post the link again please.
So here it is, a link to as my contribution to Antony
Gormley’s One and Other 24/7 ‘living
sculpture’ project over 100 days of an English summer. The entire web-stream is
archived in the British Library, but the link below will take you to my (very informal)
hour on a (very high and a bit slippery) 4th plinth.
Tip for the Day: Don’t spend a lifetime
looking for the Bluebird if Happiness or the chances are you will never find it;
lighten up, and let it come to you, and when it does, you’ll know it’s no myth. The human heart needs to find its voice and sing for love (if not a lover) to hear and come our way for it is inclined to turn a deaf ear to tears. Love comes in many shapes and assumes many guises; it may or may not linger long, but will remain a lasting inspiration.
WHERE KINGFISHERS
FLY
Some say a Bluebird
of Happiness
will swoop on
loneliness
like an owl to prey,
turn the foggiest day
into a blaze of
spring sunshine,
negotiate mazes of
a mind teetering
on madness, driven
to despair
by a sickness of
spirit, needing
to but spot one blue, fragile, wing,
and hear (even faintly) such sweet music
as only the Bluebird of
Happiness
may ever bring, egging
on our desire
for the simplest
things...
like that first cold
beer after harvest ends,
glimpse of a kingfisher’s
tail
where the river
bends, scent of roses
though autumn in
the air
reminding of a
fragrance of your hair
each time we share
a dip,
a gladness of
rainbows lending more
than light to your
eyes,
along your nose,
upon your lips,
(where I’ll brush
mine),
tonguing your ear
lobe, seeing to it
that love’s heat
moulds us
into an image of
lasting beauty
Bluebird of
Happiness, circling our globe,
looking out for us...
Copyright R. N. Taber 2004
[Note: This poem
has been slightly revised from the original as it appears in 1st eds. of The Third Eye by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2004; revised ed. in e-format in preparation.]
The Third Eye is still in print. UK readers can obtain from any bookshop or directly from me; the latter also applies to overseas readers. UK readers may also find all or some of my titles listed in their local public library catalogue.