When you have a blackeye,

People don't know what to do.

But they've already made up their mind about you

In the quick second it took to do a double take and then avert their stare.

They gaze into an alternate reality.

See themselves in an elaborate scene

Of their own making and experience

That concludes with circumstances  that might lead them to have or to give a blackeye.

And you might as well not try to tell them what really happened to you.

They won't believe you.

They will believe their own cockeyed scheme and think you are a liar.

But only those who have had a blackeye themselves will understand.

They will look right at you and not demand any explanations,

For they will know that no matter how it happened,

It is a hurt, an injury.

They feel your pain and the misery you have in facing the public.

The fellowship of the black eye remains one of the truest of brother and sisterhoods within humankind.

One that truly acknowledges the conflict involved

In leaving the mortal flesh behind

And reaching out to embrace the deep spiritual philosophical issues

That cause the big universal blackeye on all humanity

That no one is willing to face.

-jenn