Without emotion he walked and let the wind lead him without asking the city or the streets to pardon his being alive but walking

as in a dream not wanting to be disturbed by reality coming into his consciousness just now with its painful reminders of his many faults and shortcomings that he was not beautiful or really very intelligent or

handsome and maybe that was one of the reasons why he was looking so hard for love and never finding it-

The blood sang in his head and the wind was hollow inside his ears as though he were listening for a voice he knew he would recognize of someone calling his name or simply

speaking to him asking for a cigarette or the time just behind him or a hand reaching

out to touch his shoulder and say hey buddy

is the bus still running anything but he would know instantly that this was that special

moment that was love

coming up behind him and touching his shoulder and asking his name.

The boy was not beautiful his eyes were too small and not the kind of eyes associated with beauty but with animals

being caged stalking back and forth with wary eyes for any chance to escape the eyes of somebody both hunter and hunted they were haunted eyes

but looked straight at him in such a way that the beauty that was in them was youth and dispelled any other thoughts except of a lonely kid looking for the same thing he was and not asking too much only a chance to be comforted and brought and maybe told he was good looking enough to be in the movies or even beautiful:

They laid together and the love was beautiful that passed between them without unnecessary

words to say what they felt and momentarily

shared in spite of laws that condemned them

and a world that was ready to punish them if it knew

but loving easily without hesitation doing

all the things that call for a deeper kind of

joy than usually happens but did happen to them

just for awhile the short time that

they lay there in bed together without speaking-

11