VITREOUS FLOATERS

  

Muscae volitantes they are called,

The Latin for our English “flying flies;”

A term for defects or impurities

Developed in the middle aged eye-ball,

When cells and strands of tissue flake and fall

And float around as one surveys the scene--

Especially one nearsighted, like me.

Best viewed are they against a sky or wall.

Sometimes these flying flies conglomerate

And fall upon the inner eye’s bent floor,

Where they remain until you shake the orb--

And then, as snowflakes in a paper weight

Are churned up from the landscape they disguise, 

They pirouette and swirl within your eyes!