Absent from class

You shouldered a burden
By the colour of your shirt
Much was expected of you
A role model past and present
You could not let the side down
So you kept your distance
And we ours
Two years passed in a blur
Hardly seen
No room
To express your sexuality
Vivien
Melanie
Siew Leng
And your fraternity
Sunil
Jeyaraj
Pak Kuen
They were not to be
Only names to you
Now you carry other loads
Heavier
Until a call from the past
You readily responded
Forgotten but deeply recessed
To make sense of
Nearly half a century later
That is a lot to recover
But the ground is familiar
Even comforting
You have retrieved much
With just a few steps