They say the skies of Lebanon are burning

Those mighty cedars bleeding in a heap

They're showing pictures on the television

Of children dying in the streets

"Where are we?" Toby adjusted the pack on his shoulders, sliding the little buckles on the side just a little so the bar would stop digging into his back.

"Now, that's a fair question." Chris looked back down the path with a grin. He was about six inches taller than usual considering the pair were moving up a slight hill amongst waving sheaths of young heather.

"A fair question you're not answering." Chris replied to Toby with another one of his famous grins. "It's not that much farther, right?" Another smile from Chris and then Toby watched Chris turn back up and the path and continue walking in rhythm with the stick he'd torn from the tree during their impromptu supper under a gnarled tree.

And we're still at it in our own place

Still trying to reach the future through the past

Still trying to carve tomorrow from our tombstone

But hey

Don't listen to me

He's so magnificent, Toby thought. His lover was poetry of manhood in motion. There was a domain missing its head lion somewhere. Keller's muscles bulged in all the right places, blood flowing through tattoos, through his cynicism, through his passion and real devotion.

"Are you coming, Tobe?"

"Of course." They moved through the sea of grass and light summer sun together. They had a rhythm that moved from footsteps to sweat drops and even the occasional clicking of Toby's camera around birds, around bushes, and even around Chris as he napped. Toby wasn't sure if it bordered on creepy or if this was the progression of true unabashed lustful love. He'd never had that with his wife so he couldn't be sure and it's not as though Chris was ever much help in the matter.

Chris loved to tease mercilessly, but sometimes that wasn't such a bad thing. "Please tell me you didn't just take a picture of my yawn."

This wasn't meant to be no sad song

We've heard too much of that before

Right now I only want to be with you

'til the morning dew comes falling

"No. Of course not." Toby looked up from their next rest break with his deep, sincere eyes. He pushed his fingers through his almost wavy ash blond hair and then returned to his camera lens.

"Let me see."

"No! You'll want to delete it."

"Toby..." There was a glint to his eye and Beecher moved away just before Chris pounced. His biceps moving in perfect motion with his hamstrings. Unfortunately, Keller was just tall enough that it didn't matter how much of a play fight Toby put up. Christopher Keller could always somehow win.

I wanna take you to the island

Trace your footprints in the sand

And in the evening when the sun goes down

We'll make love to the sound of the ocean

In this case, however, he really didn't want the photo erased. He had found his lover in a perfectly reclined position, the line of his body moving up through the roots of a large tree, rippling shade over his white tank top. Chris Keller had been reclining upon his pack, smiling, his arms folded under his neck in a pillow shape. Four or five shots earlier, Toby had caught a shy beam running across Chris' eyelids, lighting every deep line in shadow. A great reminder of life and yet to Toby, one of his ultimate turn-ons, the heightened reality of it all.

"Hey, this one's pretty good!"

They're raising banners over by the market

They portion slogans over on our shipyard walls

Witch doctors praying for a mighty showdown

And a holy flag is gonna fall

"Let me see...." Chris turned the camera so Toby could view the picture. It was one of the Irish robins, a dot of purple amongst an extended blue wing.

"Oh...this one's not so good."

"Which one?" It was naturally the picture with the shy beam of light.

"Of course it is! You're...delectable." Chris began to laugh in Toby's direction. "What? What I say?"

"You just compared me to a salami hoagie."

"I...I....Chris..."

Chris sighed and then closed the gap between the pair. "Toby, settle down." He wrapped his arms around his lover and squeezed, sighing as he knocked his forehead gently against Toby. "Hey. I was just joking. C'mon. It's really good. How do you always manage to find my good side?"

Up here we sacrifice our children

To feed the worn-out dreams of yesterday

And peace that dying will lead us into glory

But hey

Don't listen to me

Toby chuckled. "That's why you're the one on black and white frame."

"Hey!" Keller playfully swiped at Toby, but Toby was able to dance away with the camera. "Why not take one more shot of me, but this time let me be awake for it."

"How do you know it's going to be the last shot?"

"I've got a feeling it won't be."

"Okay, then. Let's see what you've got." Toby tilted the camera and watched with only slight shock as Chris Keller peeled away his tank top, revealing his glistening abs and various tattoos, including a new one of the trinity mark with Toby's full name set in it, almost hidden from the camera's view. "You don't make it easy to concentrate!"

"Oh, is this too much clothing for you?" Chris reached down to the drawstrings of his pants.

"Wait! I...ummm...public nudity."

"Will you calm down?" Chris extended his arms in a so-what motion and Toby snapped a photo.

"I wasn't ready!" Toby snapped another as he pointed toward the camera. "Oh, is that how's it gonna be? Well fine." Chris began to strike odd pose after odd pose until Toby could no longer hold the camera nor contain his laughter. And Toby's laughter was far too contagious for either of their good.

This wasn't meant to be a sad song

I've sung too much of that before

Right now I only wanna be with you

'Til the morning dew comes falling

That scene had unfolded earlier in the afternoon. Sun was setting now, lighting Chris' hair with a beautiful golden blaze. Toby nearly tripped twice on the two very small rocks in the worn path.

"You know, if I had known you were going to be this ditzy, I would've invited somebody else."

"Who, Riley?"

"Maybe. I always did think he was a little cute."

Toby was too tired for his automatic response. "So, would you have?"

"I wouldn't have turned him down, but he was too into that doctor chick. Say, you have the compass in that pack of yours?"

"Of course. I'm completely lost though. You've taken us off the map."

Chris' eyes twinkled. "I know where I'm going."

I wanna take you to the island

Trace your footprints in the sand

And in the evening

When there's no one around

We'll make love to sound of the ocean

"I don't doubt that. Are we anywhere near? We should probably camp if we're not."

"You just can't wait to lay down next to me." Damn, he's right, Toby thought. But that's not the point. Chris took the cue from the silence and raised his Nalgene, saluting the sunset as he took a swig.

"Yeah, well, I am getting pretty hungry though."

Chris chuckled. "We are almost there. Don't you trust me?"

"With everything I have," Toby whispered.

They walked in the direction that Keller pointed. The sound of the swaying grass was replaced, slowly but surely, by the sound of waves crashing across a bluff. Toby was wondering just how far they were going.

And I know us plain folks don't see all the story

I know this peace and love is just copping out

"You know, Keller isn't my natural last name Toby."

"And what is your natural last name, Chris?"

"Macaller. It's an Irish mutt name. I had it looked up at one of those mall kiosks once before I ripped it off."

Toby cringed for the both of them. "That's pretty interesting."

"It was also a clue."

Suddenly, Tobias Beecher and Chris Keller were inside a clearing overlooking a bluff with the sea around and a small cabin, sturdy yet antiquated, in the foreground. A smoldering pile of ash lay near the front porch and a small mountain of ready logs lay against the cabin. "Welcome to the homestead, love. I was wondering if this would be all right for a honeymoon location."

"But Chris...we're not...we can't..."

And I guess these young boys dying in the ditches

Is just what being free is all about

"That's not true. There's an old Irish poem I want to read to you and then the town parish where my grandfather was baptized has agreed to give us a ceremony tomorrow at exactly the moment we met. They call it a hand-fasting ceremony."

Toby couldn't think of a word, an exquisite phrase, anything. So he reached for Chris and pulled his arm followed by the rest of his body close. They kissed in the sunset, dropping packs and then walking toward the house only long enough to actually go back for the pack and throw them into the front of three rooms inside the house.

The moon was round, slightly south of being full that next evening. The stars and ribbons of deep purple shown through the large window. Toby stood softly, fire at his back from across the room, his arms crossed.

"God, isn't that moon beautiful?"

"You know, for a honeymoon, this isn't very much like I imagined."

Toby turned and smiled with bitter sweetness, his eyes never really straying from the heavens. "We're committed now to each other."

"Yes, we are." Chris slipped away from his covers and joined Toby by the window. "Body, heart and soul." He whispered the words and his teeth began to graze over Toby's skin, softly scented with real Irish soap.

And how this twisted wreckage down Main street

Will bring us all together in the end

"But what happens if you get bored or in trouble again or if I'm asked to work as a lawyer in some state you've been barred from? What could happen to us?"

"Baby, a million things could happen." Chris turned Toby towards his eyes, dipping his head down so they looked each other at eye level. "But we could die just worrying about them. I'm here, you're here. Your fingers are here."

Chris reached down for Toby's hands, entwining them in his own.

"Your eyes are here." Chris leaned in, Toby gasping as Chris kissed his eyes.

"Your lips are here." There was an explosion of passion that lay behind Toby's walls of fear. It shook the floorboards, it shook the headboard, it shook the fire near the bed.

And we'll go marching down the road to freedom

Toby could feel Chris' heartbeat as he lay underneath his lover. His legs were entwined as Chris pumped deep within him. They tasted each other's skin, so close. The white covers slipping from bare shoulders, the room glowing with heat. Chris grasped for Toby's wrists, pushing them both farther down into the bed as he moaned deeply into Toby's ear.

Freedom

Toby writhed, Chris' tongue bringing him closer and closer to leaping straight in the air held only by his lust. Chris held him around his midsection as he tasted the perfectly formed cock, moving it around his mouth, caressing with his tongue. They explored each other with vocal ramifications they had never had before. They were alone together, they were all each other had in the entire universe and between them was the friction that creates heat.

Freedom