OUT

promises
are promises
and love
is love
and sacrifice
is evidential
of both
but perhaps
these are just
things he tells
himself to  
fend off regret
 
there was intense
shame,
and he carried it
in the same
secret place
as desire
so he might
smile and nod
and be a man
that made his
parents proud,
and so there was
wife and child
and church
and all the
trappings,
he thought,
of normalcy
 
always behind
the curve
he blossomed
when he had
less to lose
and finally
marched
and sang
and even
kissed one
sweet boy
and imagined
how it  
might have
been
had he  
shook it loose
when he
was young
and beautiful
and the future
belonged to
him