Oh when it starts
Two wholly new things
Recognizable yet usually different
You’re this I’m not
How curious is that
You look the same
As me but different
You’re not a mirror
Yet I see myself
In you or parts
Of me in you
Or parts of me
That I am missing
And want so desperately
So I say things
That you enjoy hearing
That keeps you close
Like those lines thrown
To boats to tie
Them to the shore
This is what it’s
Like when relationships start
When do you know
That something is over
When all that excitement
Of revealing and knowing
All of that newness
Turns into the burden
Of accepting what hurts
It’s not the hurt
Which causes the pain
It’s the accepting it
Accepting something that hurts
Is like being waterboarded
Forced to absorb something
To the point of
Drowning struggling for air
You tell your torturer
Anything to survive this
But it’s not what
They want to hear
And so you’re killed
Though not you exactly
It’s really your love
That’s when it’s over
There’s this in between
A point of equilibrium
A place of comfort
When what is lacking
And what is grand
Are neither less than
Or greater than the
Other meaning that what
Attracts you and what
Detracts you is balanced
By who they are
This equity you uncover
Is when you discover
That you’re in love
Back to my knees
Lord where art thou
Here in my darkness
I implored the Heavens
To relieve me from
Despair have my sins
Prompted such turmoil have
I not been noticed
For my kindness nor
My love for others
Where are You
And then God said
I am the bottom
Upon which you have
Fallen which you kneel
Consider this do not
Sprouts spring from below
Do not trees rise
From the forest floor
Do not clouds gather
Rain from the oceans
Does not absolutely everything
Begin from where you
Find yourself to be
Now my dear boy
Start from here and
Be on your way
Just like everything else
I’ve always been different
It runs through my
Veins like water through
A gorge I’ve always
Known that ever since
I was a child
So being gay seemed
Normal part and parcel
But to so many
Others being gay was
So unusual that they
Hid their uniqueness shied
Away from the others
Until June Pride Month
When the rainbow colors
Fly far and wide
For all the world
To see celebrating not
Just being LGBTQ+ but
Also everyone’s vibrant uniqueness
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 