First homophobic comment

 Remember that day, just walking, hands tangled like vines in spring,

Down our own street, thinking this was our world, a safe cocoon.

Laughter in our bubbles, your laugh echoing in my head, a sing-

Song of 'us against the universe'. But shadows loomed, too soon.

First, it was words flung like stones, from the mouth of a passerby,

Words that struck, sharp and cold, breaking the air around us.

Hate, a dark cloud in that clear blue sky; didn't understand why

Our love, something so pure, could cause such a fuss.

It was the sudden shift, from invisible to target,

Our hands unclasped, the air turned icy, heavy with threat.

Didn't it feel like a sick sort of spotlight, that hatred, stark and abject?

That day, the colour of our love, it changed; something we couldn't forget.

But, mate, that was just the first of many, wasn't it?

Each outing a roll of the dice, a gamble with visibility.

The streets we walked, the parks, the pubs, pieces in a world that didn't quite fit.

Each sneer, each shout, a reminder; our love, deemed an impossibility.

And in between, those moments of defiance, of love shouted back,

Clinging to each other a little tighter, the world be damned.

But those incidents, they stacked, heavy, a mounting attack,

The weight of them, a constant reminder, of how much ground we hadn't claimed.

So when we talk about it, years down the line,

It's with a bittersweet twist, a laugh that doesn't quite reach the eyes.

Because those moments, they bind, reminders of a time

When love was a battlefield, our hearts on the frontline.

And yeah, it's changed, but those scars, they linger,

Etched into our narrative, a part of our history,

A testament to resilience, to love that was fiercer,

For every word, every look, we endured; our defiance, a mystery.

But mate, it's also a reminder, ain't it?

Of the journey still ahead, the battles left to fight.

For every person still walking that street, hand in hand, lit

With the same love, the same right, to live, to love, in light.

- Aspen Greenwood