My mind beelines to a time when

Beautiful boys like us could play together

Before they were made strangers and

Wrapped themselves in protective layers

My mind beelines to a Pride Sunday when I followed

Your beeline to booths filled with people like us,

With new possibilities ringing left and right

As in a pinball machine, activating dormant feelings

A monarch butterfly flew in our path like a guide

To reveal our inner beauty

My mind beelines to an imaginary time dimension

When liberated from our cocoons we savor every minute

Flying and fluttering together,

As imperfectly as the monarchs in a monarchy

Of two, taking turns at revealing a new leaf here,

A new burgeoning flower there,

On trees growing strong together with deepening roots

My mind beelines to an old image of me

When you captured my essence today

Of the beautiful boy that had gone dormant

For a long time until

We found each other