I've Got a Red Eye

I’ve Got a Red Eye

I’ve got a red eye,

Therefore I sit on the patio,

To release pressure from reading,

And to enjoy the late summer green.

The orange sun is setting in the west,

The black birds are hovering over their nests.

A frog croaks a lonely song,

My neighbor walks her waterdog in sandal thongs.

Everything is in its usual place,

Including the two stools standing side by side

Like two loyal waitresses.

But my parents are not sitting on the stools,

They are gone without a trace.

I touch my right eye.

It is red with strange white lumps.

I got this red eye on a trip with my parents,

A sense of driver’s responsibility drove my eye nuts.

I got a red eye.

My mother could not speak to me without a sigh.

She figured she must always be by my side.

Keeping me from a disease tide.

So she sat in my sofa bed,

Sharing with me thoughts in her head.

I rolled over to appreciate her profile,

Wishing time could turn into a copying machine

To keep the moment on file.  

I got a red eye.

My father found himself a new job.

He put eye drops in my eye.

I could see his wrists throb .

While he was carrying out his nursing duty,

I smiled till my face froze,

Wondering if I could survive in a few days at ten thirty,

When their farewell arms to me rose.

I sit on the patio,

Hearing the bugs chirp,

After the sun is gone without a trace.

Without a trace like my parents.

Then I climb onto a stool,

Remembering that still

I’ve got a red eye.

(Cynthia Zhang, written on August 29th, 2009)