Unofficially

The heart has its reasons whereof reason knows nothing - Pascal

The official report is this: they captured him driving inside a red Toyota along MacArthur Highway.

In reality - he was with his lover, whom neighbors describe as small, sweet and muscled.

Limbs entwined, sheets entangled.

They must have been surprised when soldiers burst through the door that night.

No wonder he surrendered 'without a fight'.

***

Nothing wrong, he was annulled, she was single.

Only this: inside the courtroom, they were on opposite sides.

If you had known that one look across a crowded courtroom would seal your fate, would you still have helped him escape?

Harbored him, defying the law, your supervisors, the code you had sowrn by?

Conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentle(wo)man. Conspiracy. Death by firing squad.

A litany of words drowned beneath the beating of your heart.