Lines Laid Down By Others

Days of measles spent cloaked in twilight
Veil of curtains and dime store sunglasses  
Between me and a sun gone dark with evil intent
Hell bent on robbing my sight while I was busy
Looking inward tallying wage against sin
Bedeviled by an itch that needed scratching
Hands sheathed in white tube sock condoms  
To ward off nails rendered poison as the fer-de-lance
Snakes that glared back from steamy jungle overlays
In the World Book Encyclopedia, cotton prophylactics
Incompatible with the proper grip of a crayon  
But the germ of a lifelong refusal to stay
Inside lines laid down by others.