I have longed to roll and play with you for as long as I
can remember, watching from behind trellises and in the
shadows of peeling white picket fences I could smell you
and taste you but I could not build a bridge between us but
only rage at the Gods for their determination to isolate
me. I have longed to dance with you the dance of something
that is not sex but more, that transcends orgasm into full
birth and commitment to the human race and bonds me to you
as we swing and sway, our hearts pounding in rhythm
together, drums in darkness driving out all fear. I come to
you with the longing of a lifetime lived behind crumbling
stone walls and cellar doors. I come here to touch you so
that I can feel myself. I come here to love you as brothers
so that I can come away from here and never have to hide
again. You are everything beautiful that I knew you were.
To live among you, to soothe my longing heart, to let go
my weapons, my armor, and sit unafraid . . . this is all I have
ever wanted, to come out from behind barbed wire chain link
fences and cement pilings and just be with you. To be. With you..

Patrick Skater
Townshend, VT