Eye in a Storm

To wake up to blurry vision

is always confusing:

Am I blind?

Am I crazy?

Is it just the crust in my eye?

One swift movement

it’s wiped away,

blurry vision, crust and all

and I realize

my eye

is

red.

Roses are red.

Blood is red.

My eye

should not

be

red.

It could be nothing,

a little thing, you know.

I slept on it, that's all.

Until it gets redder

and irritated

and swollen.

The clinic is in view.

I walk briskly through.

Everyone is staring at the monstrous goo

in my eye.

That crust wasn't crust,

it was puss.

Ew

Gross

Yuck!

An hour of intolerable waiting...

Patience, patience!

Screaming, running children...

Their eyes aren't inflammed,

why are they here?

... and I finally get to see a doctor:

bacterial infection.

Lovely,

my

eye

is

red

and

infected.

Come back home,

the monster eye

and I,

my sister cowering away -

So sympathetic of you!

Have to go check my eye every 5 seconds...

check

ew

puss

red

wipe

screaming sister

... waiting for this to be over...

Why does this have to happen to me?