Anti-gay pogrom in Chechnya by Stefanie Bennett

And I will love you because

the world never did.

And I will cloak you in syllables

to  keep inquiring eyes at bay.

And I will cover our footprints

so daringly

that no-one will ask,

ever again,

for a sequel to love and loveliness.

 .

And you will love me because

the world never did.

Because the gentleness of fortitude

is a hard act to follow.

And we will scrape up

our worldly ruins

to begin building this

hectare of the heart

cupped between the planet’s breast.

 .

Know that the quiet doctrines will be

as fragile

as your face.

The direction…

clear as a single birdcall

across the idioms

of free space.

In a land where

no wall stands we will

 .

meet and set our lives to the order

of metaphysical things.

We will love because

the world never did; and

give back

what was never taken

when the time comes.