Going The Rounds

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

Although I do not post comments on the blog I always read them. So many thanks to all of you who commented on my comments and poem yesterday’s. I got the impression that some of you thought I was sitting on a fence or sorts. However, I think I made my feelings clear and it is not for a poet to dictate how his or her reader should react to a poem, only open avenues of thought.

Meanwhile…

It is true what they say. What goes around comes around. The fashion scene, for one, can testify to that.

Hopefully, the same will not apply to attitudes towards gay relationships…but I have my doubts. If certain individuals and groups within the world’s major religions - predominantly Christianity and Islam (they that like to present themselves as models of peace and love!) - have their way the clock is already turning backwards for us. Even laws meant to give gay people equal rights and protection can only go so far.

At the end of the day, you cannot legislate for bad attitude. If emails I receive and discussions I’ve had with both gay and straight readers are anything to go by, there is still plenty of that around among the world’s predominantly heterosexual communities, even in the so-called liberal-minded West.

This poem is, yes, another villanelle.

GOING THE ROUNDS

What goes around, comes around,
no matter gay or straight
on history’s merry-go-round

Let time, our mistakes, compound
(love will always see us right?);
what goes around, comes around

As dogs of war run peace to ground,
see humanity put to rout
on history’s merry-go-round

Let martyrs quit this mortal round
where light and dark mate,
what goes around, comes around

In all nature, no finer, sweeter sound
than love songs killing hate
on history’s merry-go-round

Where sexuality dares speak its mind
or society constructs a closet…
what goes around, comes around
on history’s merry-go-round

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

Source: http://rogertab.blogspot.com/2010/08/going-rounds.html