The images created by AI get better every day... they're learning!
What I Like About This: Whoever wrote the prompt that generated this depiction of a Roman scene got it just right. The passion infused subjects have that classic "fight me, or f*ck me" look that makes it hard to look away, you can almost feel the heat between them.
This is a guest post from a friend who shares his story of a true love...
Monday, June 23, 1975 - I had just arrived in Chicago for a seminar for church musicians. I had attended in previous years and had obtained some excellent choral music - I was excited about the "new stuff" I was going to acquire! Registration was being held in the main auditorium, which would easily accommodate a crowd of 2000. As I finished registering, I (literally) looked to the other side of the auditorium and locked eyes with a handsome guy who was also finishing his registration! He smiled, I smiled... and suddenly I was "warm" all over! I immediately thought of the (slightly altered) song...
Some enchanted morning, you may see a stranger
You may see a stranger across a crowded room
Somehow you know, you gonna know even then
Somewhere you'll see him again and again and again...!
As fate would have it, we just happened to sit at the same table at lunch... and there, each of us was "testing the waters" and we both were coming to a preliminary conclusion that, "This is going to be a great seminar!"
That evening after dinner there was an "icebreaker" reception, with lots of swapping of information... from toothpaste brands to family statuses. We discovered that we both had December birthdays. I was (at that time) 38, and John Alfred Dalton, III was 24. As we talked, both of us "dropped bobby pins" but neither of us came right out and "revealed" anything... although without question we both knew that we were, "bird's of the same feather!" That night...as I relieved myself of the pressures of the day, I fantasized about doing so with John!
Tuesday, June 24, 1975 - Our day was filled with many "reading" sessions, collecting copies of music to order and of course, flirting that became more overt, but other that the "accidental" bump there was no physical contact between us, unless you count the thrill of seated "knee to knee" contact in the recital hall during the reading sessions! To my disappointment, John skipped the evening meal and went shopping for shoes, but reappeared in time for the "talent contest" in the rehearsal hall. Afterwards, I took a chance and invited John back to my room, and to my delight, he accepted. That night, we talked and talked until it was really late... Even so, we both were still cautiously skirting the issue of the "elephant in the room"...our mutual attraction!
Wednesday, June 25, 1975 - ...Still more "reading" sessions and seminars, and it was announced that we'd have a "free" evening! After dinner we decided to visit the John Hancock Tower, just a short walk from our dormitory. I guess this would count as our "first date" - just the two of us, alone in the crowd!
The entrance fee was $4, and we took the express elevator to the 94th floor and the 360 degree observation deck! The night scene was breathtaking, the lights of the city and the shimmering waters on the lake created an atmosphere (perhaps enhanced by my memory) that was definitely romantic. Silently looking out at the sprawling city, elbow to elbow, then dropping sexual innuendos and chuckling at our rancid humor, I could tell we both sensed a strong, unspoken bond between us...even as we peed in adjoining urinals before we took the elevator back to ground level. It was probably 9:30 or 10 p.m. before we got back to the dorm.
We both had private rooms, but when we got to that moment when we should've parted, John said that he really didn't want to be alone that night, he didn't want to, "break the spell" that we both sensed. I suggested (ever so innocently) that even though I only had a single bed, I'd be willing to share it if he was interested! He was!
He went to his room, got his toothbrush and came back to mine. We stripped to our underwear and I boldly suggested (again, ever so innocently) that since the bed was narrow, we'd probably have more room if we omitted the underwear too! Again, John was very agreeable! I slipped into the bed next to the wall. John flipped off the light and slipped in beside me! And, instantaneously there was an erotic atmosphere in that moment when our naked bodies "melded" together in sensual bliss.
Within mere moments we were mouth on mouth, our tongues probing and engaged. As our legs entangled with our rock hard manly members being held tightly together, we experienced an incredible eroticism that defies description and that lasted for hours! Between us we whispered the words of love - "You're the man I've always wanted," "I want you in my life forever!" The scent of our musky essence hung thickly in the air of our tiny sanctuary, even as the taste of it lingered upon our lips well into the night! For we who had become lovers, sleep was almost non-existent, but the sacrifice of it was a blissful one and well worth the loss!
July through October 1975 - Our romance grew despite the distance between us. During this time, I visited John in Boston and he visited me in Richmond! In the process he decided to move to Richmond, and did so in September. When we were together in Boston, we attended a service at the historic Trinity Episcopal Church (where Phillips Brooks was Rector and wrote the Christmas Carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem") and several other historic sites. When John visited in Richmond we visited Colonial Williamsburg and several other places of historical note.
One afternoon when we were alone he sat down at the piano and asked me to stand beside him...he wanted to sing to me! These are the words he sang, a song made popular by Roberta Flack, but which I had never heard before:
The first time, ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars
Were the gifts you gave
To the dark, and the endless skies
And the first time, ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hand
Like the trembling heart
Of a captive bird
That was there, at my command
My love
And the first time, ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy
Would fill the earth
And last, 'til the end of time
My love
From then on, it was "our" song...and I loved it, and still do! However, after the move to Richmond in September, John's enthusiasm for our relationship began to cool - he was much less eager to "interact" (notice the delicate phrasing) and indulge our passions. At the end of the month or perhaps it was in early October he announced that "people change" and that he was "moving on" - which he did! And with that, almost as quickly as it had begun, it had ended. To put it mildly, I was emotionally crushed!
November 1975 - December 1980 - Five years of mourning what was so hopelessly lost to me! Getting over John was emotionally one of the hardest things I ever had to do! Nobody knew the great pain I was in as I opted not to share. But whenever I was alone...often while driving... my tears would flow! In my life, I had loved and lost twice before and though those losses hurt, they were nothing like this!
October, 1986 - Eleven long years had passed since John told me "people change." Out of the blue, John called and wanted to meet! At that time I was living in the Virginia Tidewater area and he was still in Richmond - so we met at a McDonald's in Williamsburg. This was apparently intended to be his final "good-bye"...even though in my mind that had been accomplished a decade earlier! Over the time we'd been apart, he had taken a position in a prestigious Presbyterian Church, had married and divorced, and had now quit his church music director job, and was moving to California. Our conversation was pleasant, but nonetheless guarded. I mustered the courage to tell him that I missed him and still loved him, but there was no overt response! We talked for about an hour and then we went our separate ways... I was sad, but there were no tears as I had shed them all years before.
Late Fall, 1988 - Two years had passed since John left for California. I was a "Volunteer Coordinator" for the Tidewater chapter of the American Red Cross and one day I received a message (through a channel that I've now forgotten). It was that John had become very ill, and had died! The suggestion was that the illness was AIDS, which was the scurouge of a generation. Sadly, the implication did not come as a surprise to me since John had often spoken of his desire to "live on the edge," even in those times when HIV/AIDS was a death sentence.
Fall, 2023 - Somehow, nearly 50 years have passed since John and I began what I remember as our anxious and aching flirtation on that summer day in Chicago. As I approach 90 years on this earth, I still think of him often... I dwell on those magical "early" moments...and I give thanks for what was and what might have been!
