Things We Cannot Change - Oct. 26, 2025

for so much of my youth

I was wildly happy, deliriously

blissfull, ignorant and free

it was 6^th grade phys. ed. class

when I saw the naked chest and arms

of our gym teacher

I remember tracing with my eyes, so carefully,

all the curves, when a deep stirring, a peculiar

feeling shivered to the surface

it scared me, I pulled back, horrified

this new hunger would show on my

face and everyone would know

I knew then I had a secret I must hide

I knew the mirror knew, so no direct

looks, avoiding that for many years

now, I can look there and see

I was the product of an assembly line

of ignorance - society, peers and parents

and can say now, after a long hard journey

of bleeding out the shame inside me

I often forget the painful history,

and find myself, on rare occasions,

wildly happy again