Brown Eyes

Sunglasses bring darkness that soothes,
but what I thought was acupuncture is
just a rusty nail in my eye,
and I strain to see light that should be there.
Dark glasses hide marks that make-up tries to cover,
when red eyes always show.
We take them off,
make our fingertips and palms kiss,
thinking we’re ready to fight
when we’re really gripping a vine of spiked metal
and telling ourselves blood is lipstick.
But I don’t want to hide or ignore the blood.
So if blood’s reflection is too blinding,
just tint my eyes with glass that should’ve gauged my back.
So when people really look into my eyes
they might realize they’re brown from splinters.