I'm seeing floaters
tiny bubbles dancing
across my vision field
that no amount of blinking
will dispel
like dandelion seeds
suspended permanently
on a summer breeze.
It's the beginning of a new season
according to the web-doctor,
along with flashes of white light
that I first interpreted
as headlights reflected by the chrome
of passing cars
while I was driving,
but still flickered off and on
at home
in the corner of the bedroom
while my wife was out -
I was in a panic
and had no one to ask
if getting old
is like a hallucination -
cars speeding by, bubbles
always on the verge of bursting,
or if it's a symptom of mortality
settling down over you
barely perceptible
as dusk,
a gradual blindness
mistaken for
reality,
and then
I heard the sound of a key
turning in the front door
I think.
Whether these floaters are real or metaphorical (or both), don't panic ... they are a normal part of the aging process. I've had them in the past. What happens, my opthalmologist explained, is that your brain teaches itself to un-see them, and they eventually go away. Speaking of aging, check out my new poem "On Turning Sixty-Five" on thelionofpoetry.squarespace.com which contends that as we get older and closer to death (ashes), our body gradually become more and more like rusted metal, rotting wood, and decaying minerals. Cheerful stuff for National Poetry Month!
ReplyDeleteMan, is aging ever annoying sometimes. Hemorrhoids and now this. I look forward to reading your poem.
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