Poem by Doreen Tainton
Things I Have Loved
The caress of a sun-kissed corner on a winters afternoon,
The dew-wet tracing of a spider’s web in early sunlight
And dank earth in the morning after a night’s soft rain.
The Shade of an oak in the heat of summer,
And moonlit arums beside a mountain stream.
The wind on my face and a kiewietjie’s cry rising
With the thud of my horses hooves on the morning air
The tenderness of baby kisses,
The urgent answer of my blood to drums.
Laughter thro’ shimmering tears on a childish face,
And the intensity of life in adolescence.
The restful glow of firelight on a man’s strong face,
And the happy ache of eased fatigue thro’ the gentle drug of sleep.
A mighty river easing itself round the shallow innocence of sandbanks,
And the enticing laughter of a brook hiding in a grove of trees.
The strangled sob of my soaring spirits
Answering to the untamed tang of wood-smoke,
Struggling to hold forever the smile of a beautiful face
Or savouring to the faintest echo a melody which breaks the heart a little.
A friend who understands the voiceless anguish
When life plunges me beyond the realms of speech,
Yet best of all a man’s love when constant as a mother’s.
But transcending all of these that moment on a mountain top
Or beside a calm blue sea where time and distance meet in me
Acclaiming an Almighty God who made the best things free.
The caress of a sun-kissed corner on a winters afternoon,
The dew-wet tracing of a spider’s web in early sunlight
And dank earth in the morning after a night’s soft rain.
The Shade of an oak in the heat of summer,
And moonlit arums beside a mountain stream.
The wind on my face and a kiewietjie’s cry rising
With the thud of my horses hooves on the morning air
The tenderness of baby kisses,
The urgent answer of my blood to drums.
Laughter thro’ shimmering tears on a childish face,
And the intensity of life in adolescence.
The restful glow of firelight on a man’s strong face,
And the happy ache of eased fatigue thro’ the gentle drug of sleep.
A mighty river easing itself round the shallow innocence of sandbanks,
And the enticing laughter of a brook hiding in a grove of trees.
The strangled sob of my soaring spirits
Answering to the untamed tang of wood-smoke,
Struggling to hold forever the smile of a beautiful face
Or savouring to the faintest echo a melody which breaks the heart a little.
A friend who understands the voiceless anguish
When life plunges me beyond the realms of speech,
Yet best of all a man’s love when constant as a mother’s.
But transcending all of these that moment on a mountain top
Or beside a calm blue sea where time and distance meet in me
Acclaiming an Almighty God who made the best things free.
- Doreen Tainton 1967