They are forbidden
To be together
Into a hard world they were born
Strife and aggression
What does it mean to be a man
To swagger
Fierce and tough
There’s no room for the tenderness
They feel for each other
For the flowers blooming in the sidewalk cracks
And the empty lots they pass
It’s a sultry day spent out of the sun
Who moved first by accident
Of course by accident
Sitting just close enough
Shirt sleeves touching
Who moved first by accident
Of course by accident
They are too aware of each other
Of those shirt sleeves touching
Speaking about the video on TV
Playing a big star and they are laughing so much
Everything is wonderful and terrible
Whole bodies laughing together
The air is crackling
The world cannot hold them
Their world will not allow
What happens next
When their eyes meet
Who closed the distance
Who reached first
But it went straight to hell
The whole moment
Shattered
When he walked into the room
This is forbidden in their world
No kiss
No handholding
No shoulders brushing
No more of anything as
The violence erupted
He lunged for one of them
The other defended
The world tilted
Pinball tilt
A loud crack
A smoking gun
One dead on the floor
Relief in each other’s eyes
The realization too that
The only way to survive
This is to become enemies
They flee from love
They flee from each other
They will never be happy together
This is forbidden in their world
So who cares
Burn the whole world
Burn the past
Burn the love
The body count climbs
The world did not make room for them
To be soft and sweet and together
A feud now to the death
They sing love songs to each other
Longing for the day they will be out of this world
Unwilling to leave the other behind
They suffer apart
And everyone else pays the price
Too
No admission to love
No tickets to paradise
War on the streets
When will it end that love can find its way
And grow in the deserted places
