In Memoriam Thom Gunn
He doesn't look at you
as if you were some strange
animal alien to his kind, a grotesque
appendage dangling
or bobbing between your legs.
He is not repelled by your hairiness
or the hard
angularity of muscle, cartilage, bone.
He is not afraid
of your brusque touch
or frightened by the size of your
body.
He does not nurse the hidden rage
of an offended child,
nor does he accuse you of rape,
or attempted rape,
or fantasies of rape.
He welcomes you as a fellow creature
who shares his needs and his ways.
He knows you as he knows his brother.
He trusts your trust and your good
faith.
This is the ground of your love for each
other.
_______________________________________________
Top image from www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/archive/images/732.2265.jpg
Bottom image from http://sporeflections.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/two_men_hugging_gay_art_paintings_male_nude_naked.jpg
