This article was archived - here's the new link:
http://www.gayalliance.org/index.php?option=com_alphacontent§ion=4&cat=21&task=view&id=360&Itemid=69
The latest sonnet for Jack that Kerry posted by Marlowe reminded me of this article. Kerry's post is here:
http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=6834.msg130927#msg130927
And here's another excerpt from this article:
"Surprisingly, even the austere St. John of the Cross unites the images of shepherd and lover. His poem is worth quoting here in its entirety for its parallels to Brokeback’s story of shepherds in love:
A lonely young shepherd toiled, unaware of pleasure and contentment,
his thoughts fixed on another shepherd… his heart wounded by love.
He is in tears, not from the pain of love…
but more from knowing he’s been distanced.
One thought— that he is kept at a distance by his beautiful shepherd—
is of such great pain that he travels to another country to be misused,
his heart wounded with love.
Says the young shepherd: “It’s agonizing that you draw back from my love
and do not seek my company….”
and his heart was wounded with love.
Finally, after many years, he climbed… spread his arms open —
He had remained persevering— and he died,
His heart wounded by the love.
(Juan de la Cruz, “Otras canciones a lo divino de Cristo y el alma”)"