Pretty Lights (Micah Caswell-Baton Rouge, LA)

An excerpt from Civil Hands directed by Tim Miller and performed at Louisiana State University

This is a story

About a breathing boy

On a breathing hill

With another breathing boy

And how one of those boys became

Breathless

Lying on our backs

We watched a flurry of lights above us

Breathing

Not sure if they were really moving at all

We realized that hands were exactly the same size

Breathing

With two palms pressed together

Our fingers intertwined

Breathing

It happened

With our hands still as one

Breathing

He put his weight against me

On top of me

Still breathing

Pushing my body into the grass

Into the ancient burial ground beneath us

Breathing

But somehow still seemed to be above the rest of the world

It felt like I was sinking through the grass

Breathing

I could feel the earth all over me

And then he released me

Breathing

Our one hand became two

The link between our bodies broken

Breathing

And still I couldn’t be happier

He gave me exactly what I had been hoping for

Breathless