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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Across the Courtyard

Tonight: It is midnight and I cannot sleep, so I am standing bare-chested in my dark living room, gazing out the window. Across the courtyard from me and one floor up: The night between us is black, but the apartment is warmly lit. No one else in our area of the block is awake.

Into this picture a young man walks. He looks disconcertingly like me. Also bare-chested, I see him pause and extend an arm. I wonder what he is doing, until I realize he is talking to someone who is seated, who is just barely visible from my vantage point – I see only the back of a head.

The young man beckons, his arm lifting slightly and his arm saying, “Grab my hand and come with me.” It is a gesture of welcome that also carries risk. His hope could be denied.

But it is not spurned. The barely visible head rises and I see the frame of another young man, tall and slender. The two hold hands as they walk out of view.

My heart melts. I hope that the love they make is mutually passionate, that their eyes are open as they kiss. I hope that they are slow and purposeful, feeling each other breathe and sigh and react. I hope that it is healing and whole, a method of communication and retreat from the world, that afterward there is no haste to regain distance. I hope that it is without shame or pretense. I hope that they hold each other and whisper “I love you,” and that it is fully and completely felt.

It is 12:30 and the lights are still on in their living room. Good night.

Posted by Aaron on March 13, 2008 12:41 AM