Fever

Sometimes in the grip of fever
your head may become a tetrahedron
sharp vertices piercing your four faces
or you may twist into a torus
becoming a shape without boundaries
expanding and contracting
at the same time
when you are in the grip of fever.

Sometimes in the arms of fever
you may be lifted aloft to view below
a body shivering on a sickbed
wrapped in sweat-drenched sheets
imagining yourself
an avatar of infirmity
in someone else's delirium
when you are in the arms of fever.

Sometimes in the throes of fever
you may transmogrify into a bee
and whirl into the whorls
of lilac and nightshade on your room's wallpaper
and come to know the pain and pleasure
of living in the colors of flushed heat
feeling the shapes of red and purple
when you are in the throes of fever.

Sometimes enraptured by fever
you may feel yourself enfolded
by wings of angels that lift you aloft
to heavenly realms where
you imagine you have a soul
and your body is an illusion
which can sometimes happen
when you are enraptured by fever.

Sometimes when fever subsides
and a ray of sunlight shines
through a slit in the window blinds
you may hear someone in a room nearby
humming a tune from long ago and
the world again becomes familiar
as another ordinary day begins
when you are released from the grasp of fever.

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