Breakfast

I ate my breakfast on the porch this morning
because it was sunny, windy, and warm,
and because I've read about the effects
of sunlight on the body, about vitamin D
and circadian rhythms. I sit here so
I'll learn again what daytime is. I want
to be driven by the sun again. I've worked
to many nights. I run the machinery
behind the curtain and I only walk out
in the light where everything's working
on my way home. I sleep through the show.

My skin leaches vitamin D into my blood
like a dirty rag in a pail of clean water.
I can feel it happening. My bones become
tough and pliable, eating my flesh
from the inside out and growing mean
inside me like a foetus so when I die,
my bones will stand up with fresh marrow
and get to doing the important work again.