Precious Hands : Recognising Sexuality
Renaissance ~ Second Edition
WRITTEN IN October 2013, it is dedicated to a friend - one who understands, has been there, has come through, and now shines as an international example to all - this image being sent to me in 2013 with the enigmatic enquiry as to how it might, perhaps, portray sexuality.
I sat down, I did not need to think. I allowed thoughts to flow through the ink on the page.
The poem is set against the background of the soundtrack The End of All Things by Howard Shore.
The title deliberately carries the noun 'Precious' because that, in his language, is the meaning of his name, and with the poem an indelible imprint upon that man's life, his current and future work and contribution to society as a whole, this was the natural thing to do. Monday, October 14, 2013 IBM
Bild zur Verfügung gestellt Mit freundlicher Genehmigung eines Freundes in Berlin, Deutschland (2013)
Precious Hands : Recognising Sexuality
I
I have a thousand voices
raging in my head
telling me I am what they
want me to be,
telling me I am not what they
want me to be
I do not understand
their contention with me
their belligerence
their hostility
A thousand hands
attempt to pull me this way and that
No, here
No, there
No, down here
No, up there
What is it to be?!
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
II
Don’t you DARE attempt
to live the man you really are!
You are deluded!
We forbid it!!
You have spent too much time
with Grandmama
You need to mix with girls!!!
'Come with us'
the voices scream.
III
The Voice of Reason whispers…
The strident rebellion
shouts back from demented beings
Or is it just the image I've been
fed,
of a nether world,
to frighten me into acquiescence?
A nether world, moreover,
that simply does not exist …
IV
What?
You think we are not real?
We live inside you!
We harbour you!
You are our resting place
We will give you an easy time
if you will but give up these
masculine notions,
nay, these feminine notions, others scream
that emasculates your masculinity;
If you will but acknowledge us
we will leave you in peace
V
The hands clasped ever tighter
Grappling,
Gripping,
Clawing
Tearing
A myriad voices
‘we will not permit this man
his true inner feelings’
We insist on a man being at war
within himself
That we break him down
and he becomes ours…
VI
The lofty proclamation from a thousand mouths
of self-righteous indignation:
‘He is an abomination in the eyes of the LO… …
... OBLIVION ... !!
VII
Darkness retreated before the Light
Sudden, Glorious, Victorious
flooding every part of my being;
Hands clasped me
Warmed me
Comforted me
Myriad hands guided me
Each hand had the touch of cleansing fire,
of the coolness of a mountain stream
The softness of flesh
Dry, clean,
Yes, cleansing my body
Healing the stripes and welts
and the rips in my skin
Wounds healed over
A Shimmering Glow before me
An Image
Not seen directly
But out of the corner of my eye
the form of a Being!
A million colours
A Constellation of Rainbows
in many dimensions
soothing my soul
At peace with my spirit
A thousand strings in unison
A Voice the sound of many waters:
You are as I made you
And as I intended you to be
Let no man tell you otherwise
It is my desire you love woman and man
in equal measure
I create each of you in My Image
And if perchance I see it good
That you should love a man, your own kind
Or that a woman should love her own kind
Or that each should love either
Then so be it
I think it and it is done
I do not give My time to
misinterpretation of My Word
I ignore the words placed in My Mouth
by people I have created
who decide they know better than Me
their Creator – I AM
These hands upon you now are
All the aspects of your personality
and character that I have given you
male, female. female, male
They have come home
I held them back a while
that you might find your true self
To be as I intend you to be
Beautiful, charismatic, gentle,
Loving, giving
For I AM WHO I AM
I Am the Eternal Self-Existing One
Outside time
And beyond comprehension
to most, indeed, all
who prefer I be in their image
Rather than they, Mine
You have seen an aspect of My Deity
and like these hands
In the course of your long life
You will see Me in many other forms
And never in the form you expect
I go now but I am with you
I am in you
I am Love divine
My love excels in your love-making
And you will touch the hearts of many
VIII
These hands have never left me
They are with me in the Midnight hour
At Twilight
At the break of day
They comfort me
I am at peace with myself
I am who I am
I am what I am
I love a man
A man loves me
I love a woman
A woman loves me
I am natural
I am normal
We are natural
We are normal
Each created in His Image
And He rejoices at our sexuality
I rejoice too, we rejoice, you do too
And so should you over there on
the outer fringes wrestling with
screaming voices and clawing hands
We rejoice in our own sexuality.
Get over it!
Kenneth Thomas Webb
Liverpool
July 7, 2021
All Rights Reserved
United Kingdom - Austria - Germany - Australia - New Zealand - Canada - USA
© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2021
One of the Fifteen Founding Members of Leaders Lodge
Originally composed October 15, 2013
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
