Watcher of the Bones Watches Me

All the little white painted faces
Decorated in every color
Floral patterns and curley cues
Both natural and artificial hues

My blood sugar is spiking just looking
But I want one anyways
I ask if these are the kind I could eat
But my spanish sucks
And deciphering the shopkeeper's reply is an impossible feat

Two sugar skulls bump lightly in my sack
One with red petals all around it's eyes
The other with delicate blue patterns
Much the same color as the sky

At home I set them on the table
Ready for November 1st
The Day of the Dead
With two days to go I was thinking ahead

On the next day
Only one day to go if you're keeping track
I picked up the blue one and smelled it
I even licked it a little before putting it back

Maybe I shouldn't eat it
After all, the decoration could be poison
But I can't get the idea out
So I locked in the mental box that all the rest of my bad ideas go in

The Day of the Dead dawned clear
And the idea was out of it's box
The sugar skulls staring at me
All the while I was putting on my socks

I wasn't going to wait any more
I could taste it already
Before I knew it the blue one was in my hand
Heading for my mouth straight and steady

A crunch and a brief sweet euphoria
Followed by the room spinning
The floor impacting the side of my face
As the remaining skull sat there grinning

I was dead
All my flesh peeled back
Laying in my apartment
Lights dimmed with all decorated in black

A spirit hovered over me
Her own flesh gone as well
Skull tilted back jawbone open wide
Sucking in the stars
Fuel for this atomic bone bride

Empty eye sockets regarded me
Speaking into my spirit
"I am Mictecacihuatl"
There may have been more
But my fleshless white boned terror censored it out
And I ran from the after life seeking the comfort of my cold hard floor

But that's not what I found
As I realized where I was
Laying in state in a room wrapped in a hospital gown
Alive and well
As well as can be
After eating a toxic sugar skull on Dia De Los Muertos
Having my stomach pumped
And living to tell
Of the bone spirit who watched over me
Sucking in her stars
Watching me with empty eyes that could not see