Three Drops

On the floor they appear

in the light from my rechargeable

like planets on the page

of a childhood book

See here is the sun

with two planets circling

though these planets are immovable

and are not really planets at all

The largest

farthest from the entry

to the small room

with wash and dry machines

The smallest in the middle

with the mid-sized

closest to the kitchen

Now mottled brown

appearing almost as if

these had been struck by meteors

Closer inspection would reveal

dead worlds of tiny things

that had once been a part

of a larger life force

These planets show

because the blade of a hatchet

had been carelessly replaced

among other needed tools

which ever so gracefully

put a half-inch slice

in a right index finger

deeper than first thought

from where these planets

would form on the floor

from the drops carelessly

created by the sudden pain

more like a paper cut

than this dripping wound

So here these three show

themselves long past the minutes

of anxious footsteps

to the first aid box

crafted in the wood shop

some years ago

for just such an occurrence

that never happened hundreds

of hours and miles ago

Here was the bottle of wash

to treat the cut to move

what might have stayed

inside the skin now dripping

cells of many kinds

into the tiny sink

The first attempt at a bandage

failed from skin being too wet

and again the drops

were swirling down the drain

as the sting returns

to remind how carelessly

was the search for a screwdriver

The second held longer

but again failed to stem the flow

and now a third

between attempts to dry

the wounded digit

of the dominant hand

Now it closes the thin line

that caused so painful a drain

that the pad was not soaked through

that the adhesive held this skin

together to seal the skin closed

So now forgetfulness becomes

a need to put the air conditioner

into the window when the central system

had failed on a hot day

A second attempt to procure the right tool

to remove the screen

Could the machine be lifted

Could the window be sealed

So quickly it was in place to cool

So the night progresses though phone calls

through life attachments to friends

who suffer more

to video to radio to type

to all the things that take away

the pain of creation

billions of years ago

before the galaxy

the solar system

before this fragile planet

before these sudden creations

dripped reminders upon the floor

of all the atoms

of all the cells

of all the chemistry

learned in hundreds of years

of war and study

from more than

three drops of blood

Barry G. Wick