River Blindness

The river breeds the humped black fly
which stitches in
the broken skin
the worms that slip-swim to the eye,
bear tinier worms which in turn die,
loose from its fin
the pathogen.
The cornea clouds up like the sky.

To stop from going totally blind,
you modify
your hosting body, drug your mind,
or kill the fly,
or climb upslope and leave behind
the river, eye.

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