Requiem for the 24th January 1968
By Stanley Collymore
There was that first rush of heady excitement tempered
periodically by the contemplative reflection on what
the consequences could be but which was always
recklessly brushed aside by the energizing
dangers inherent in our joint and at
times irresponsible actions.
But lust camouflaged
as love does tend
to act that
way.
Forty three years on the folly of it all speaks eloquently
for itself; but that aside we’ve both survived the
inferno of deep-seated passions, personal
conflicts and even the mirthful
remembrances of those early halcyon days, seemingly
so at the time, that sensibly were always destined
to end the way they have done; completely
avoidable if we’d only stopped for a
moment and seriously thought
about what we were doing.
But real life isn’t about regrets or what might have been,
or conveniently whingeing about misfortunes: real or
imaginary. Nor realistically is it about revenge or
getting even for those reverses sustained in our
life, since to do so would effectively mean
allowing someone else, consciously or
even unknowingly so, to dictate the
tempo as well as determine the
agenda of our life. I haven’t
or will I ever permit that
to happen to me!
The experience however gained from our ill-fated
relationship together has been invaluable none
the less in helping me to positively determine
who and what I actually wanted to be and
ultimately became. And without malice
or any trace of bitterness I’ll raise a
glass of Mount Gay Rum: Barbados and the
world’s oldest and finest, specifically to
January 24, 1968 and the Top of the
World Ballroom in Stafford,
Central England with the toast:
“I looked danger in the eye,
refused to blink and won
the day. I survived!
© Stanley V. Collymore
24 January 2011.
(2011)
The road to hell is often paved with good intentions, and not least among them is unthinkingly falling in love and impropitiously following that up with marriage.
This poem was inspired by the escapades of Doreen, Dora, Hazel, Agnes, Dot, Margaret and the rest of the members of this close-knit, serial adulterous, Top of the World aficionado, female gang, circa 1968 plus.
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