No one has to know

Her wide brown eyes
And sparkling smile
Made me trip
And skip a beat.

I watched her laugh
I watched her cry
I couldn’t act
He was my friend.

When she started
Smiling for me
I was torn
Loyalty or lust?

I let her join
My friend list
And promised myself
Nothing more.

Till she confessed
Her inability
To love him
Or any man.

She was forced
To make a choice
This marriage
Or the asylum.

She chose the former
To please the people
Who tried in vain
To pray away the gay.

That is when
I took her hand
And vowed
To never let go.

I can be a spinster
She can be a wife
With society’s blessing
No one has to know.