The Invitation

Way back before the internet

You came out...

Into the uncertain winds of our college culture.

You had found "the One"

And my invite to the "Covenant Ceremony"

Arrived in amidst my stack of bills.

How I longed to come,

And be as gracious as the folds in my long skirt!

And yet, not fear of man

But my own conscience constrained me.

We talked on the phone.

How I loved your distinction

Between romantic crush and lust!

Gay or straight,

We both chose the higher way of love.

The conscientious son of a minister,

You said you preferred outright Biblical rebuke

To the inevitable distancing and silence.

Yet, when I tried to explain my reason for declining,

You hushed me.

And I became the dreaded silence.