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
Snake that glared back from a steamy jungle
Overlay in the World Book Encyclopedia
Shelved for the sanctuary of a coloring book
Prophylactics and perpetual twilight incompatible
With proper grip and waltz of a crayon  
But the germ of a lifelong refusal to stay
Inside lines laid down by others.