The Map of Amsterdam ii

The Map of Amsterdam ii

He had fallen in love with a man

who had a name to protect. 

He shut himself up in the bedroom for days

buried under shame.

Friends brought him look-a-likes,

but it only made him smell of bitter sweat

and dead gardenias. 

He’d listen to them speak

as if from a far distance, eyelids heavy,

like stones swollen with salty wetness,

cheeks flushed as if with fever.

After a while they’d find a hollow place

inside themselves and crouched there

until the storm around him abated.

Then he’d sing spirituals and tell stories

of birds and people with thin hearts.

Meanwhile the man with a name to protect

would walk around the city punching

every glass window he could find

until he’d reach his house.  The friends

would let him in silence and he’d sit on the edge

of his bed.  Everyone in the room would disappear

and leave the two men together.  No one every

heard them talking—

two lovers

above            

time and space.