My Eyes
Many sights once blessed my eyes:
Candlelight flickering against cold walls, illuminating my song.
Melismatic music fluttering across pages like butterflies made of notes.
Steady silhouettes of an anticipating audience, eager for my next line.
Elastic on my split-sole slippers, slid on for a rond de jambe.
Pretty petals of peonies, ruffled and cheerful as I place them in a vase of glass.
My eyes were full of life back then. Look at my eyes now.
—Heather
This poem was submitted as part of the Reflections of ME/CFS and FM and Long COVID Awareness Day Virtual Event on May 9th, 2023.
#MillionsMissing #MillionsMore #Hope4MECFS #Hope4FM #Hope4LongCOVID

Lucinda Bateman, MD, is a renowned clinician, researcher, and educator. Her Johns Hopkins University Medical School training instilled an approach to care that she has employed throughout her career – the patient comes first and the unknown or unexplained does not equate to a lack of proper and compassionate care. Since starting her own practice in 2000, she has served on six boards or committees, been the principal investigator for 45 studies, authored/coauthored 40 journal articles, served as adjunct instructor and adjunct assistant professor in the University of Utah Departments of Preventative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Anesthesiology, and lectured around the world.