It Starts in the Eyes
Madie Phillips, '23
Floating in seas of white,
They become heavy
Marbles. The weight
Of the world, of constant
Observation, held
Within. And even the
Bluest become the most
Turbulent of oceans; the
Deepest of browns
Become the rockiest
Of mountaintops.
but soon those
ellipses cannot
contain the weight
anymore. it spreads
downward and begins
its pollution, the marbles
too heavy, exhausting
the foundation below
as it turns to the ashy gray
of crumbling cobble-
stones, the purple of a
wilting iris.
It starts in the eyes,
in the absorbers of
humanity and its
tribulations, before
engulfing the rest of the
exterior: the slouching
and the yawning and
the sighing. All before,
finally, it begins to
take over the soul.
