Love Retold
And so the story goes
Boy meets girl and falls
Girl meets boy, then folds
Into herself, she goes
keeping her soul behind walls
Trying to escape the chains
The chains of rules and lies
As it licked and sliced 
her skin and bones
Folding into her shell 
is all she got
Outside is strange 
it makes her feel lost.

Then one day, girl meets girl
In the eyes that looks like hers
Saw colors dance and twirl
In the voice that sounds like hers
Hears a lilting laughter coaxing
Telling her a different story convincing
Pulling her out of her shell, unfolding
With an attraction that breaks all lies
With a desire that shreds confines

She found kaleidoscopic 
colors of joy
in a boy’s smile in love with another boy.
Locked with fear of society’s wrath.
But freedom drumming in their hearts.

She saw love doesn’t have to be one kind
Doesn’t have to be aligned
With society’s lies 
disguised as truth
Taught to be as divine’s rules
It doesn’t have gender or race.
As they try to stain the story for ages

No wrath or fire will kill it;
from the ashes of Sodom, 
it rises.
Will relive time and again for eons.
Even in the minds of those in darkness.

And so, the story ends
She and her, smiling in each other’s arms
as the world fades away with its lies 
them dancing to the tune of their heartbeats 

Dadirri December 2023