When I hear
A favorite aria
Or watch a
Dancer express passion
Through body I’m
Reminded that beauty
And more importantly
The recognition of
Such isn’t the
Responsibility of the
Performer instead it’s
The charge of
The witness therefore
While the Universe
Created our world
It is we
And only we
That make it
Or any part
Of it beautiful
Yes we all
Encounter obstacles some
Of us burrow
Under climb over
And tear down
But most avoid
Learning to live
A life restrained
So goes relationships
When we restrict
And constrict when
We leash and
Confine when we
Prune and pree
We’re hindering that
Same free spirit
Which attracted us
Whether out of
Fear or jealousy
The hardest thing
To do is
To let go
Of something that
We love it’s
A gift only
The truest of
Loves can muster
And finally like
A child that
Has gathered courage
I looked beneath
The bed peered
Into dark closets
And wandered through
The halls ready
To confront monsters
Finding none I
Burrowed back beneath
My covers victorious
At last knowing
That my monsters
Only ever existed
Wherever I was
And nowhere else
Being gay used
To mean joy
And happiness then
It meant expression
And love for
The same sex
Oh but today
It’s curdled filled
With extremism unbridled
Obscenities and every
Conceivable derivation of
Pleasure being gay
Has become bestial
Idolizing false gods
Of physique and size
One enormous Caligulian
World wide orgy
Of deceptive disgust
I am renouncing
And excusing myself
From being gay
I’m turning my
Back on my
Community a community
That must learn
That freedom still
Requires sacrifice that
Simply because one
Is free it
Does not afford
Abomination and atrocities
Because even monsters
Are hunted down
For their crimes
Against the just
My dear boy
The heart’s a
Funny thing it
Chips and breaks
Like bone china
Yet still purposeful
But over time
Even it rebounds
After a long
Life of loving
What was once
Prized for its
Purity stands now
Like a cloisonné
Vase put back
Together and gilded
Stronger with gold
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 