One Hundred and Fifty-Five Sonnets - 72. all-important

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Sonnet No. 143

On that day, I’ll see you standing in white –

Your tux a badge of the office we seek –

With four hands linked, we’ll take the nuptial rite

To cross Love’s threshold, with its bright mystique.

But I blink – and the day’s already here –

Your fingers grip mine; the officiator

Asks you the simple question loud and clear:

Do you take me? Forever, in amour?

“I do.” you say, and your heart is sincere.

My turn comes, and my black tux speaks symbol

Of our gravity, and of permanence;

Of our life together, and of love nimble

That will guide us to our death from here hence.

“I do,” I say to you with a firm glance,

And take the pride of a married man’s stance.

Sonnet No. 144

I am but one man against the flow of Time,

And after I am dead, others will label

What they see in me with words that are not mine,

Thus, homophobes will give full rein to their libel.

Even now, the ‘H’ word is jammed down our throats,

As Wikipedia gives haters free roam –

To define us with a word that gets our goats –

As if Blacks were called ‘negroes’ in that tome!

What I call myself is the all-important,

Because I do it with love, and therefore,

How sad that I’ll be in their hands ignorant,

When I cannot defend myself anymore.

So to future bigots of the world, I say:

Hate yourself with the ‘H-word,’ for I am Gay.

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