What Is Your Temperature

What is your temperature? The doctor asked During an ordinary visit. I left the examining room And walked through My palace Skin and hair Nails and tissue, 75 years of growth. Ivy wild as a Venus flytrap Snaring an insect. Tendrils curl and cover Cages of ribs Prisons of my own making, Arid and Dry. Soothing rain Falls from mouth and nose With nowhere to go, Pores clogged With regret. Breath shallow In and out In and out. No escape. Chest Rising and falling, Rising and falling. Dry air moving Dry air moving Over parted lips. Teeth clenching Unclenching Teeth clenching Unclenching. “Temperature is normal.” I respond. I return the next day Where is your pain? The doctor asks. I reenter my Pulsing, beating, breathing Palace. A child moves further Away on the bed From an adult’s Meandering hand. The hand disappears. The touch remains. Blood pressure rises Breathing becomes shallow. Fatigued, I relax By aqua blue pools of bliss. 75 years of blessings Fill once arid spaces. Adventures daringly dreamed by a South Chicago kid, Raised by parents of the Second World War “Roosevelt knew the Japs were coming.” He did nothing To stop it.” A ticky tacky house By the tracks Is our Gardens of Babylon. I say good-night To the whistling roar Of a mighty steam engine Ever so lightly Shaking my foundation. I return the next day. Cheered by Yesterday’s excavation. I meet Seven Brides Carrying oil lamps. Their light brightens once-dark corners. Castle-like ventricles Arch into stairways Leading to Magnificent towers. Pink, baby skin Warms a Mother’s heart. Three children grown, Now parents. Six grandchildren, Hardly children. I look closer. The pain evaporates. Geysers of Gratitude, Mist fills deserts. Orchids of pink Violet and gold. Bright Pink Flamingoes circle Capture and close. Childhood scars, Covered by mossy Sponges, soak up old anger, Vacuuming the shame Of innocence. I know now Why the ivy Meanders, clings and binds To new cells And old bones. Its tendrils give Eternal life. Evergreen, It breathes Forgiveness Fidelity and constancy.