Well surprise, surprise

Woke in the middle of the night

Very dark

Thought the night light had gone out

Stumbled to the bathroom

Left eye was not right

Seemed to be stuck

Unable to open

Turned on the light

Whoa, whoa

It hurt to look at the eye

Shades of red filled the whole eye

So that is what is referred to as bloodshot

Makes no sense

Quite aware little ones got it

Not that I really remember when ours did

Any immediate cures at 3 AM?

69 and pink eye

Have heard the refrain about certain illnesses

Posing danger to young children and the elderly

So 69 dumps me into the elderly demographic

Maybe I have been delusional about age

I get there are elderly people

Usually I can see them from afar

Avoiding mirrors

Allows me the imaginary image

Of self perception

Quite quickly however

A diagnosis will be made

Most people shy away from pink eye

Your best friends and closest relatives

Even your closest companion

Remarks about,

‘You look pretty bad’

All adamant about a visit to the doctor

They are trying to protect themselves

And their loved ones

Now eye drops and a warm moist clothe

Scramble to return me to the world of the healthy

And I get it

Just the look from others while walking by

As they look away, shy away

Flat out pretend you are not there

Is enough pressure to use the drops

Even if I can’t put them in myself

But let’s admit

It is perturbing

To be pigeon holed

With pink eye and elderly

What else could go wrong

It would spread to the other eye?

Please, please

Just look away

FXC

4/19/19

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