Before soldiers marched
dealing death,
Before the first flower fell
and our blood became the enemie,
Before dark parks and warehouses
became sites for suicide,
Before lost young rainbow boys
carried catalysts for calamity,
Before husbands began poisoning their wedding beds
and ill wives gave birth to ill children,
Before sick seeds fell
and blossomed into silence and secrets,
Before infected reflections
turned still as stone,
Before lust was transformed
into a fiend of fire and fear beneath flesh,
Before our friends,
Lovers,
Brothers,
found their place among the ashes,
Before we knew of the epidemic,
we had all assumed
love was the only disease
that could kill us
softly.