Elio and Oliver During and After
How meaningless the road ahead is when
It doesn’t lead to him and love. The stretch
Is straight, or slightly bent, when two young men,
Who stepped outside the hedging, made a sketch
Of other love, and parted, then are trapped
Inside the world that they had tried to win
Against. Their bodies and their kisses mapped
An avenue cut through the normal sin
Of love, say marriage, cheating, and the road
To separation and divorce. He walks
Back to the room where they and passions flowed.
He’s missing there where they had broken locks.
Then steps lead down to water, chilling, cool
Without the healing of Siloam’s pool.
~ Phillip Whidden