Swan Lake

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

I have started posting my most recent YouTube recordings. If interested, you should be able to access my YouTube capers at any time from my YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber 

Treatment for my prostate cancer means I have to rest a lot either side of an active day out at the moment, but it is well worth it. Brighto, for example, has always been an inspiration for me since I was a kid, and it only takes an hour to this seaside town on a fast train from  London.

Meanwhile...

This villanelle has not appeared on the blog since 2007 and is here today especially for ‘Roseanne’ and who says, ‘I adore ballet and am training to be a ballet dancer.’

Here’s wishing you every success, Roseanne.

Me, I loved Tchaikovsky’s music long before I knew he was gay. (They don't tell you that at school.) What has sexuality to do with talent, anyway, or greatness for that matter? [After all, there have been many great gay men and women throughout history.]

SWAN LAKE

A love story on stage;
nerve strings of its composer
turning each page

As a bird flies its cage,
so music in glorious colour;
a love story on stage

Let dance, our pain assuage;
ensemble, solo, or pas de deux
turning each page

See art display the courage
of humankind’s old enemy, fear;
a love story on stage

Performance, paying homage
to the divided heart of its creator,
turning each page

Dancers, their talents engage
to read into art all human nature;
a love story on stage
turning each page

[NB.  Written after a brilliant performance by the Harlow Ballet Association at The Playhouse, Harlow, April 2007.]

[From: Accomplices to Illusion by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2007]

Lasting Impressions

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

Today’s poem last appeared on the blog in February 2009 and has been requested by ‘Louisa and Richard’ to mark the birth of their daughter Charlotte Anne. Congratulations!

We owe so much to the Arts and its artists. Who would want to live in a world without music, theatre, paintings, sculptures and other such labours of love? They are always there to  remind us of takes on life, love and death that comprise humanity, men and women creating lasting impressions that we should never take for granted.

Update (March 2016): Some readers may be interested in my reading of the poem - along with another - on Brighton beach for my You Tube channel (see below) albeit in the early days of the channel before Graham and I discovered how to insert a voice file so I could read a poem over the video. [For other videos, visit https://www.youtube.com/user/rogerNtaber ]

LASTING IMPRESSIONS

Once I heard a story
about a dream that never dies;
of all we hope to see
beyond love’s tears and lies

Once I read poetry
about a love that never ends,
its spirit set free
from all the body but lends

Once I heard a song
that let fly my heart like a bird
soaring proud and strong
on the wings of every word

Once I saw a painting
of lovers in some long-ago time
yet as real as if still living
the dream now yours and mine

Once I saw actors bring
love’s ageless story to the stage,
a poem about our writing
its every word, turning every page

Come cut and thrust of all creation,
it’s to love we look for inspiration

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009

[From: Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012.]