Renaissance

Frightening images come in the night
fighting their way past
the sleeping pills and codeine.

 

Awake I am fine,
but in the Wolf Hours,
in this nightmare world
half asleep, half awake,
half in control, half in chains,
the fear comes.

It chips away

at the armor of my desire,
shows me the fragile construction
of my new sex
laughs at me for trading
the strong for the weak,
the durable for the delicate,
for risking my life and health
to become one of the oppressed.

 

But one more pill
sends me back to oblivion
and in the bright light of morning,
even in this foreign land,
I am at home with myself
for the first time
and thoughts of complications
and the unforeseen
are lost in the wonder
of a new life.