Charles Lascelles Remembered
Imagine that an English boy loved you
The most of all — and everyone thought he
Was gorgeous…even straight men took the view
That he was stunning. Reckon that a scree
Of years goes tumbling by and both are gone,
Both you and he, and in this later age
The only reason that you’re not a yawn
Now, clean forgotten, is that on a page
(And on another and another) love
Stings, written out in passion near your name.
Imagine void . . . except that once above
All others he had cherished you. Your fame
Is only in those letters where he wrote
“Lascelles” because he licked your utmost throat.
~ Phillip Whidden