A heartache

From the local news:

The body of a young man was found in the **** river, near **** bridge, last weekend. The person was wearing glasses and a red dress. Foul play is not believed to have been a factor. The possibility of suicide is being investigated.

Oh, young man, my heart aches
for the loss of you
for the loss to the world
for the pain you must have suffered
for the loneliness you must have felt.

Did you keep your secret locked inside
until it became too much to bear?
Or did you try to live out your feelings
in a world that does not understand?

We are all kinds:
believers and wonderers
sunburned tillers of the soil
and dancers in smoky clubs
guys in grimy Levis
girls in glossy gowns
and others for whom their assigned gender role
is like the bars of a cage
is like barbed wire.

You had life to live
You had value like gold
like shining silver
like pearls
like wheat under the prairie sun
like water cool and vital.

We have lost you
too young.