I can remember walking somewhere—
Very likely, it was at work, as I am hardly anywhere else while out in the world—
And seeing two men. A couple.
I could not have known what one was saying to the other, for
(As always)
They were far from me.
But, as I watched, one reached out with his left hand
And, lovingly, ran it round his partner’s back in serial, small ellipses.
All the reassurance, comfort, a being could need
In this swiftly-darkening world.
My being still yearns to this day.
