The Listening

no. 4: the unimaginable

I dream of the day that I no longer fear
walking in the street with the woman I love.
All I want is to hold her hand in mine
(her touch is everything)
without fearing the unimaginable.
If I could love her freely,
I feel,
I may be,
complete.

I dream of the day that I no longer fear
showing her (and the world) my love,
that I no longer fear being with her
in any public space
(a bar, a club, a restaurant, a school).

But this is America.
I live in the South.
In Florida.
Our colleges are both within 30 miles
of a massacre,
of an attack on our people.
So I will continue to fear the unimaginable.
I will be afraid of loving her in public until it is safe to be free.
Until it is safe to live as we were created.