A tribute to my friends I lost by suicide during pride month.

They say
"Men used to be strong!"
As if strength is in silence,
as if softness,
love,
emotion,
were cracks in their armor.

"But men used to go to war!"
And still died with the names of other men on their lips.

They forget
what history won't

Queerness carved it's name in palace and temple walls.
Egypt,
Ancient China,
Greece,
Rome,
In the shadows of Gods
who loved everyone.
Freely,
divinely,
without shame.

They say,
"It's unnatural."
That, "God didn't intend for this to happen."

But whose God?
The one who made:
Oceans,
land,
and people,
Yet feared love?
A kiss?

What's more human than that?

Tell me again,
how I'm wrong for existing
and I'll show you a thousand years of men like me,
who stood before your God and didn't flinch.

Why is it unnatural to want,
to ache,
to hold,
to yearn?

#poetry