poem

once a young woman asked me,
"how does it feel to be a man?"
and i replied,
"my dear, i am not so sure."
then she said,
"well, aren't you a man?"
and this time i replied,
"i view gender as a beautiful
animal that people often take for
a walk on a leash and might enter
in some odd contest to try to win
strange prizes."
my dear, a better question for Hafiz
would have been,
"how does it feel to be a heart?"
for all i know is love
and i find my heart
infinite and everywhere
-Hafiz (sufi mystic, 1320 - 1389)