Didactic Experiences Poem by Johannes Zettler

You’ve enlightened my day
And you brightened the sun.
You made the sky turn gay
And the air smell like hay,
As it did in the barn
Where our love had begun.

But that is long ago.
I remember with joy,
With passion and sorrow
These days, because I know
Since that night in the corn,
I’ve been hating to be a boy.

You have destroyed my life.
You awakened with no
Conscience my deepest drives.
My desires could thrive
And cause a terrible storm
In me that does not go.

I turned into a man
Who can’t control himself.
It was clear when we began:
I don’t know if I can,
But I must forget you.
So I took your picture off the shelf.