Love Remembers Both Our Names

[Spoken Prelude] Human. Open. A man who loves a man. One with himself. No shadow will pronounce me. No fear will inherit me. I choose myself. And because I choose myself, I am finally free to choose you. [Verse 1] I have lived where clocks kept vigil over doors I dared not name, giving everyone my sunlight, keeping for myself the rain. I was fluent in devotion, yet a stranger to my need; I kept watering every garden while my own heart turned to seed. But beneath each measured second, under years of silent skies, something sacred kept on breathing; something in me would not die. Now I speak without permission. Now I stand without disguise. I am not a coded whisper— I am love with open eyes. [Chorus] Human before every judgment, I stand unhidden in the light. Openly, I love a man—and openly, I claim that right. My beloved, take my hand; no ancient shadow owns our flame. One in truth and two in freedom—love remembers both our names. Love remembers both our names and is entering through the door. Open are the chambers we will hide ourselves in no more. Voice to voice and hand in hand, we build the life we came to live. Equal at the table—free to flourish, free to earn, receive, and give. [Verse 2] I will never make you smaller so that I may stand more tall. You will never dim my spirit just to feel you own it all. Some days you will be the river. Some days I will be the rain. Give and take may change its measure; dignity will still remain. Love is not a perfect balance frozen motionless in gold. Love is knowing when to shelter, when to carry, when to hold. Not identical in giving, not divided into due— but with equal voice and freedom I keep choosing me and you. You will never be my rescue. You will be my sacred choice. And I will meet you without hiding, with my own unborrowed voice. We will not erase each other to become a single flame; we will burn as two bright candles giving light a deeper name. [Chorus] Love remembers both our names and is entering through the door. Open are the chambers we will hide ourselves in no more. Voice to voice and hand in hand, we build the life we came to live. Equal at the table—free to flourish, free to earn, receive, and give. [Verse 3] We will build a life of plenty with our courage and our hands; wealth as freedom, wealth as service, wealth made faithful to our plans. Money will not be our master, nor a wall between our souls; it will move with honest purpose, giving substance to our goals. Every profit bears a promise: what we gather circulates. We will fund another doorway. We will open guarded gates. We will turn our gifts to harvest, make our knowledge multiply— not to rise above another, but to help another rise. Our work will nourish freedom. Our freedom will nourish love. Our love will nourish others who have never had enough. Two men building, two men thriving, neither servant, neither throne— sharing power, sharing purpose, fully joined and fully whole. [Chorus] Here we stand, no longer exiles from the daylight or the divine. Ours will be an honest future—your abundance touching mine. Man beside beloved man, we lift the truth above the blame. Openly and without sorrow—love remembers both our names. [Bridge] Armenian: Ես ընտրում եմ ինձ և ընտրում եմ քեզ։ French: Je me choisis, et je te choisis. Portuguese: Eu me escolho, e escolho você. Spanish: Me elijo a mí, y te elijo a ti. Italian: Scelgo me stesso, e scelgo te. German: Ich wähle mich, und ich wähle dich. A thousand tongues. A single vow. I choose myself— and I choose you. Let the drums begin like heartbeats, then like oceans let them roll. Let the highest woman’s voice carry mercy through the soul. Let the deepest voice of manhood kneel—not broken, but made whole— for no strength is more majestic than a man who bares his soul. No more shadows. No more aliases. No more half-lived alibis. We were never born for lovelessness. We were born to recognize. [Outro] Love remembers both our names.