I stand up too fast.
My blood-starved brain floods
with panic until my heart
can catch back up.  But

the sensation doesn’t go away
after a few steps. I cling
to the nearest support, will
the floodwaters back for

twenty seconds, now thirty.
Each successive tick a
warning that something is 
really wrong. I think back

to my mother, who fell while
walking, and when checked found
a brain tumor hiding where
they couldn’t get to it.

Urgency for emergency, to
raise an alarm, until the
feeling finally subsides.
I test my two feet for walking,

find that they can and set off,
slowly forgetting I felt death
close in for a short time, then
walk away as if nothing had happened.