Hold my hand – you’re not safe.
Your skin can’t take the heat
Of the lights or the burn of
Humiliation. Don’t look at
The people we meet.
Our skins are like wings
Flown too close to the sun –
A blush would kill us,
A loss of face would
Be a loss of life.
Ready to run?
Does my hand chafe
Your skin? I’m sorry. Start
Moving now. Head down. The spurn of
This society is no shame. Remember that:
You cannot melt into nothing. Your heart
Is strong enough to withstand the things
They shout. What you did was a sin,
Against their natures. The fuss
They kicked up was because of the knife
You had. And… her life had just begun…
The child unchilder and his mother
Fled from the court. Each mechanical shutter
And blistering flash gave yet another
Headline photograph. The camera-stutter
Recorded their flight, but they had no angel-wings to flutter.
The boy, as he cried, wished to melt like butter.