Gerry’s holy-roller father, a retired Navy Commander,
demanded restraint, not his son’s talent and candor.
But his son’s creative energy was impossible to suppress—
He bounded from Yale to Hollywood, an overnight success.
Assistant to the head of Columbia Studios at twenty-eight,
Married to warm Annie. Father of two. Assumably straight.
Much younger, I had no idea what it meant to be gay then—
When he left his young family, I just couldn’t forgive him.
As my life winds down past September,
The random scenes I somehow remember—
Chatting with Gerry about Oscar Wilde on a drive—
Why couldn’t I stay closer while he was still alive?
