"Poets---chaired and crowned
at the Eisteddfod---everywhere abound:
look and, as well, listen all around."
These are the words of the anthem solo
he will sing. Two years into his adolescence---
unashamed and unconcerned that societal inhibitions
do not provoke in his a sense of guilt for his desires
(desires superlatively empowered by his pubescence)---
he will not trim his soft, auburn tresses, middle-parted,
that now cascade, over the white surplice, and below his
shoulder blades (his parents, forward looking, allow this
decision to him). Look at that face: sculptors of
long standing on ancient stone still wish to replicate
such exquisite beauty (painters to draw it, poets to describe it).
His voice---high tenor, perfect pitch---reminds some of the
angelic song they will someday, raptly, hear; and others of
what they will never, ever hear (being surrounded by
insurmountable walls of cacophony, the agonized screams of
those who sear in the roasting pits of Hell for their prejudices).
Beneath the ground-length hem of his choir cassock and the
cuffs of his pleated "dress up" slacks, his slender feet
are casually bare, on the plush, thick grass in this summer's
warmth; and, tonight, forecast with cooler temperature, he
will sheathe them in semi-sheer socks (fawn gray).
But never shoes: oh no, not ever, ever, shoes---because
this pleases and arouses his boyfriend's eager pleasure;
his boyfriend (just a year and a half older than him) in the
audience, fiercely attentive to the choirboy's gently
melodious presence. On the ring fingers of their left hands
glisten the polished silver of modestly crafted friendship bands.
Starward
[*/+/^]