Ode to the Fight

We invented kickboxing, the ethical kind
where if you came home bloodier than the other guy
you weren't treated as well as the Athenians.
You took off your glasses and handed them over
to a brother or a best friend (if they weren't
your opponent), then the lions leapt
out of their cage and hair scattered
in the air while the crowd
was already thumb upping, not in your direction.
I'm reminded that if I were born a boy
they would have named me Daniel.
Sometimes, I wish it had been the case
but usually, I won anyway.
Ephesus a far away shore, the Bosphorus Blue.