Before

This morning was quite alarming,

When I abruptly wound up harming,

My hand by slapping the clock harder than I had before.

Confounded and in a panic,

In that moment literally feeling 'manic',

As I realized my body was not as it was before.

Then I realized, here is a chance,

Today I will wear the pants,

Much more literally than I ever have before.

Thinking, dressing was so simple,

Without makeup, my free-time tripled,

Got to eat breakfast and even seconds, and I never had before.

Walked out to my elevator,

Meet my newest next-door neighbor,

And politely I greeted her since I hadn't yet before.

She eyed me, nodded, clearly wary,

I was a man now, it could be scary,

To be alone with one, as I had learned before.

Walking to work never felt more freeing,

The simple pleasures of just being,

No more catcalls, or zigzagging streets like every day I did before.

Men passed by, no sneer or creepy smile,

But the poor women all meanwhile,

Clutched bags, high on alert, as I would have done before.

Just a no-name at my job,

But as I to grab my drawer knob,

I was promoted to the position I had applied to a hundred times before.

New 43rd floor coworkers jested with malice,

Who would first take out new secretary Alice,

It reaffirmed why I had never attempted to have her job before.

After work I walked back step by step,

My delight had lost much of it's pep,

I really hadn't seen the extent of what I'd put up with before.

In my bed I tossed and turned,

I thought of all the things I'd learned,

Perhaps ignorance was bliss, it had hurt me less before.

Once again I felt a change,

My body began to rearrange,

My emotions rose, I wept tears for the degradation I'll face forevermore.