OF GOLDEN DAYS
On this auspicious date in July:
Richard the Lionheart was crowned; Thomas Cook
ran his first railway excursion, Leicester
to Peterborough and back; Thomas More
was beheaded; Horlicks went on sale; Newton
published his ‘Principia’; John Lennon
met Paul McCartney; Pasteur cured rabies;
the first full length talkie was premiered…
From that date in ‘61 – a blind date
(you with the black spot to avenge a friend
and, after, changing your mind and your heart,
and me, innocently of course, longing
for sex and romance) – justice, being blind,
has sentenced us to our just deserts,
locked us up in half a century of love
with all its longing, its hurt, and its joy.
John Huddart
August 11, 2011There was something in this poem that brought a tear to my eye. Something must happen somewhere or elsewhere every day of the year, but your selection is a masterful salute to significance, and brings to life the writer and his lover. Inspiring, as ever!