Blind

It's okay if the world goes with Venetian; Who cares what Italians don't see?-- Or with Man's Bluff (a temporary problem Healed by shrieks and cheating)--or with date: Three hours of squirming repaid by laughs for years. But when an old woman, already deaf, Wakes from a night of headaches, and the dark Won't disappear--when doctors call like tedious Birds, "If only..." up and down hospital halls-- When, long-distance, I hear her say, "Don't worry. Honey, I'll be fine," is it a wonder If my mind speeds down blind alleys? If the adage "Love is blind" has never seemed So true? If, in a flash of blinding light I see Justice drop her scales, yank off Her blindfold, stand revealed--a monster-god With spidery arms and a mouth like a black hole-- While I leap, ant-sized, at her feet, blinded By tears, raging blindly as, sense by sense, My mother is sucked away?