In Broad Darkness 

Tonight, a torch song is burning, 

on the levee in Gramercy, 

a bonfire, a distant always, 

as hot as nineteen eighty-three. 

after church we walked in silence, 

beneath the tangled oaks, I knew, 

and fancied Satan was upset, 

when i sold my soul to you... 

for a moon you never owned, 

for a night of stars and bliss, 

baptized in broad darkness, 

by a Creole kind of kiss

divine and human, all at once 

it went beyond blood brothers,    

before we knew the sin and shame 

imposed by peers and holy mothers. 

southern closets grew damp and cold 

with fear and condemnation dealt 

for boys who did not fit the mold 

were beaten with the bible belt. 

tradition ruled, all else was odd, 

redeemed, I sought to please their god, 

through prayers for grace, my soul confessed... 

plum NAKED was your Sunday best! 

PLUM NAKED was your Sunday BEST! 

PLUM NAKED WAS YOUR SUNDAY BEST!