I had a friend whose name was David.
He died of AIDS in a railroad flat
In New York City in Nineteen Ninety.
I'd never seen a death like that.

We don't remember
What the plague looked like,
Watching our lovers
Perish in bed,
Before there were cocktails,
Ryan White and Compassion.
Before we knew
We weren't going to be dead.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
The land of three H's,
Or so we were told.
Haitians, Homosexuals
And Heroin Users:
If you were one,
Then you were stone cold.

Or maybe you ate off the wrong plate.
Stood next to a Homo on the Metro.
Or maybe you shook hands the wrong way.
Then, buddy, you'd be the next to go!

Buddy, buddy, the next to go.
Buddy, you'd be the next to go.
Buddy, buddy, the next to go.
Buddy, you'd be the next to go.

Picked off precisely
By fungus infections,
Karposi's sarcoma,
And lethal erections.
End of show.
End of show.
End of show.

How will we live with this sadness, we wondered,
Two hundred funerals we went to last year.
How will we heal, recover, forget?
How will we ever live without fear?
How will we love without condoms or kisses?
We're prophylactic with every breath.
Wrapped in a rubber, a lambskin, French letter,
A johnny, a raincoat, a sheath.
Give me death.
Death.

Now AIDS is mostly a faraway country,
Breaking the broken and eating the poor.
Their last possession is their last breath.
I've never seen a death like that.
I've never seen a death like that.
I've never seen a death like that.

Rock Hudson, actor, died in 1985.

Perry Ellis, 1986, fashion designer.

Liberace, 1987, entertainer.

Max Robinson, 1988, anchorman.

Tim Richmond, 1989, race car driver.

Steve Rubell, 1989, nightclub owner.

Ryan White, 1990, teenager.

Freddie Mercury, 1991, rock star.

Isaac Asimov, 1992, writer.

Tina Chow, 1992, model and fashion icon.

Nestor Almendros, 1992, cinematographer.

Rudolf Nureyev, 1993, ballet dancer

Arthur Ashe, 1993, tennis champion.

"You can't get AIDS by hugging, kissing, holding hands. We are normal. We are human beings. We can walk, we can talk ... We have needs just like everyone else. We are all the same."
— Nkosi Johnson, in a speech at the 13th International AIDS Conference, July 9, 2000.