The Secret Keeper

​
You hated school, 
happy to come home,
where you could hide,
happy to be you
behind closed doors.

Friends never called or came.
You didn’t mind, you said.
You had work to do, you said.
But your sad eyes gave you away.

We didn’t know your secret,
the one you’d kept for years.
And then one day I asked you
what others knew and didn’t say.
Are you dating any girls?
“I’m gay”  you muttered,
your eyes cast down.
You’d opened the vault
and let out the secret.

And from the side, 
I saw you smile.