Culicoides-Brevitarsis

I know this is not the morning to glory –
or if it is I read the wrong signs. These
yawns before I arise deflate indulgent
pretence – and a Culicoides-Brevitarsis
Kieffer (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae) itch
ensures my sentiments assent.

I am laced with puncture marks of an
unspectacularly named ‘biting midge’;
at 0.5mm too small to see, yet for such
a size these beasts leave an impressive
legacy. Don’t scratch! Urges my better
sense, nerve-endings shriek raw agony.

Hard to conceive molecular war inside me –
the amount of saliva infused too small to
measure, yet invasion repelled is declared
in lumps revealed – inflammation wanes in
3 – 5 days left to their leisure; acts of itch
restraint not necessarily guaranteed.
© 26 February 2008, I. D. Carswell