My mind after 12 hours of USMLE studying

My mind after 12 hours of USMLE studying
my words
have been exchanged for a foreign language—
not one I ever strived to learn
but the one that I
-all of a sudden-
woke up speaking

I used its syllables to build the walls of my bubble—
layered hemangiomas over clue cells and
used sed rates as mortar
without a clue of whether what I was building
would end up prison
or home

And something else
how does a person lose a person?
like a penny or perhaps even
a lost pet
for whom
signs should be posted:

I left the door slightly open…
I left the gate unlocked…
I wasn’t looking and all of a sudden…
all of a sudden…
I didn’t notice for a couple of hours…
I was out of the house and when I came back…

Here’s a picture, he’s slightly bigger now,
some more lines around the eyes,
the smile more crooked from the stress,
a birthmark on the chin,
but still…
if you see him please call,
we could even work out a reward.

If only people were microchipped too—
just in case they were having trouble
finding their way back home...