But not today.

Today I feel run over, sore, itchy, weepy, sleepy, and way too tender,

almost as good a list as what my veins had been accused of:

jumpy, rolly, scarred, valvesy, clotty, and positional

like the seven dwarfs even though there are only six,

the six veiny sins every nurse/would-be sticker

must face down on her way to becoming a black belt vampire.

I have become what’s known as a hard stick.

And no wonder after year and a half of getting needled,

more if you count the emergency appendectomy.

My veins are pissed off, striking for higher wages,

 protesting on the streets, done, and I don’t blame them.

The nurses will be so glad to see that I now have a bright shiny portal

through which to access the never never land of me

with their poisons, er, potions, and promise of more tomorrows.

Coming out of anesthesia, getting wheeled back into my cubicle,

I was hoarsely singing, “it’s going to be a bright, bright sunshiny day.”

Maybe tomorrow, Jimmy, I too will be able to see clearly,

but not today.