Feeling Better

author's note:

“Tonight’s forecast...dark.”
                  -- George Carlin


FEELING BETTER

I went out searching
for a cure
when I saw how pained
my people were--

not imagining then
how expensive
the prescription--

but what are we without our health?

Here's the problem:
though I can see enough
to see we need medicine...

this illness limits my vision--

thus, for so long, I bumbled in the dark

until finally, in frustration
I sat down to catch my breath--
to gather together
what remained of my wits

then as my blind hands
touched the ground
I began to feel around--
trying to ascertain
where the hell I was--

under my fingers I found
many troubling things:

lumps and burrs and little jaws
with big teeth...

slimy trembling slithering
creatures that could be
snakes or leeches or golden
snakes and leeches--!--

my first impulse (to jump up
and run away from such stuff)
was overcome
by my strong curiosity:

all this trouble is
just so fascinating--

sometimes what I feel
immediately scuttles off

but other times these unknowns
linger as if daring me
to meet them more fully.

Though I don't allow
my fear to rule me
I am careful--
I am attentive--
in this way, I've developed
my sense of touch--I've learned:
touch must be patient--!--

so though my people still bleed
--though I still bleed--
I know I can not hurry:

though I now feel enough
to see the causes of the injury
I can not yet see the cures--

however, rest assured:
the more I feel, the more
I want to return--

so if you get there before I do
tell the people:
I really want to see them--
to see us all
so much better.

© 2012, Michael R. Patton
dreaming steps