This is a poem about two men falling in love with each other and comments on some of the currents intolerance in our society

Article 377
(Skies Belong to Others)



He was not from my caste or my religion
My clan or country, my creed or my region
But he belonged to the same gender as me
And no girl was this attractive than he

I met him on the side walk in the city
On a day I thought the world had no pity
I was on a crossroad watching the passers by
I got no smile from those who passed by

Then he came by, walked beyond where I stood
And then turned around as if he understood
He smiled at me and in his smile I saw
A human being, well refined and not raw

We fell in love, at that very first sight
Losing to our will after a good fight
He came over and held my hand long
Years later, to this hand I still do cling

He always did whatever I told him to do
Aped my mom with her countryside hairdo
Painted his nails deep red and lips purple
And send through my body many a ripple

He tried high heels and made his cheek redder
Learned to raise his pitch and sang like my sister
We shopped for things we didn't need at all
In his green chiffon gown he looked so tall

He taught me what love is and what it is not
In a way that no one had ever taught or thought
He made me let go of my past and enjoy the now
I was sure we would make tie a knot somehow

With one wall broken, others were crumbling
They soon fell around us with such a loud rumbling
At everything around him and me he used to wonder
They were things to admire and points to ponder

From our small room in my own bungalow
He used to stare at the green valley far below
While I lay on our bed and stared at the roof
He sang some songs, his love's melodious proof

As we hugged our future we had always sought
He drained my mind of many a worrying thought
And left my mind blank for me to brood over
The eternal bond among what's near and yonder

His ruby lips, his long arms and hairy body
Were just the things God had sent for me
His eyes twinkled with my naughty thoughts
As he read them clearly always on my face

I don't know what he saw in me that fell him
But as he sat with me and I looked at him
In his eyes I saw myself, a figure I didn't recognize
My real nature, I could never love or realize

And one day the news channels hollered in glee
The death warrant for many like him and me
We soon saw walls built of skulls and bones
Some innocent humans, the most unfortunate ones

The lawmakers held up the constitution
And swore like a whore against prostitution
We found them a merciless institution
Which gave much pain but nothing for restitution

The cops were at my heels and we had to flee
I saw death in his eyes and he held fast to me
Had there been a cliff around to jump from
I would have ended it all and died with him

But before we had spent a month underground
Our love life had to buried deep underground
When they caught us and bound us in legalities
I couldn't see him as blood had blurred my vision

Evil, said they; an angel, I cried
Handcuffs and whips had just arrived
They let me go, because I looked awful
Him they caught because he looked awesome

I saw the judge eyeing him hard on the sly
And the rest of the crowd drooling viciously
Everyone wished for a dark hour at noon
And there did befall a strange darkness soon

I wondered who was chanting scriptures
In a courtroom in pitch darkness at a time like this
Then I heard a scream and a wail in the court
They had stabbed him right through my heart

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