Bright Orange Beard

You quietly came and went from my room.

Then weeks later you were gone too soon.

I didn’t know how to feel when I saw the news.

Nobody knew

what I knew.

I read that you’d been a bartender downtown.

Maybe I had seen your bright orange beard around.

For me, that day was just harmless fun.

I didn’t know your name

or that you belonged to someone.

Did both of you spend time in other men’s beds?

Were you together the night before you were dead?

These questions, I know, aren’t fit for a wake.

So, I promise, for your sake

I will keep our secret safe.