I move from one patient to the next,

dispensing pills, evaluating pains, checking the color of nailbeds.

...

Suddenly this elderly lady with shaky hands

gives me something small and hard.

I stare down and my palm stares back.

...

I was never taught in nursing school how to deal with this fragility.

A glass eye.

...

OK, I'm calm,

breathe...

I'm calm, washing someone's eyeball.

Slippery glass above hard porcelain.

Drain leering at me as the eye swirls in my palm.

...

OK, I'm calm.

 Pop!

A grateful little woman smiles at me with her eyes.

updated by @americymru: 11/24/19 06:16:51PM