The Stoics would not have touched this bite,
would have let it swell into all misery
of skin-the burn that goes past blister,
the defiant rough-edged wart,
the scleroderma that reaches down
and insists on the final
constriction of the heart. Ignore
these nerve endings—ALL ENDINGS. The “I”
says to the “me”. too sensitive to cold
(your back) and heat (his wild grab dig).
The Stoics demanded repentance- said God
could not be moved
by pity. How hard and dry
to blood cracks and scaly crust
is the inflamation on the caps of bended knees.
The lice and scabies mites keep coming
to play on the surface
and in the depths
of the wanderer who can’t resist
the itch of getting lost.
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