After The Parade

After the crowds disperse

and the last rainbow flag disappears from the streets,

I will choose you.

In the mundane and the chaotic,

through quiet mornings and passionate nights.

You, with your crazy hair and wild attitude.

My beacon of light.

Ferocity in the face of danger,

the one who will pull me from a burning building

without a second thought.

The one who had seen me when no one else really looked.

The one who accepted my beauty and all my darkness.

You never needed all the answers.

My love, my hurricane woman,

you took my hand when anyone else would have run.

You chose me, and I choose you.

Let them hunt us to the ends of the earth.

I do not need to belong.

When the parade winds down,

I will wipe the glitter from your eyes

and wash the paint off your skin.

Let these bathroom walls witness the tenderness

of this beating heart.

In sweetness and joy,

in the depths of turmoil,

upended and on the run,

you chose me

and I choose you.

My fortress in the midst of war.

Hold me into the first dawn of morning,

let me seep into your warmth.

I choose you.

Through the murky swirl of our horizon,

into every uncertainty,

I choose you.