no one could stop us

We were lions
That summer when we told each other secrets
And we spent every night sleepless
Hunting, playing, watching,
Never waiting, never wishing, never wanting,
Through grass and through strange streets
We strolled on tires and on our feet
Exploring, taking, wondering,
Never sitting, never longing, never hoping,
The sun, the sound, the stagnation of the summer,
All were as close to us as we were to each other
Loving, praising, touching,
Never liking, never lacking, never yearning,
Sleeping in the morning in a foreign place
Gargoyles of the human race
Stealing, accompanying, kissing,
Never giving, never alone, and never quiet,
All of us with the collective fear of being dissolved
Constant wishy-washy feelings of segregation
Connected, collected, contained,
Never separated, never divided, never alienated,
Reminding each other with unspoken messages
The steady question we whisper, “Are you my brother?”
And the unvarying answer, “Till the end.”
That is all we needed to know because
We were the pride, we were the pack,
We were the lions


For a second there I felt invincible
I felt alive and unafraid, I knew I was going to be ok,
I knew who I was and I knew the boys who slept around me
and that was enough.