On Eyelids

Humans only have two over each eye and the lower one doesn't seem to do much. Some other animals have much more interesting eyelids, like a third one that closes horizontally or translucent ones. Maybe even phosphorescent ones?

Eyelids are to cover the eyeballs so that they don't stare all the time so insistently or dry out from the wind and drop off like really old and stale raisins. They are also useful for keeping bees out. Imagine the horrible boring of tunnels bees could undertake smack in the middle of your iris!

Some people paint their eyelids different colors to increase the attractiveness of their eyeballs or to keep evil spirits out. I once used to paint my eyelids orange, because I thought orange would go nicely with green eyes (Now you know my eye color, except that this might be a complicated double- bluff!). The effect in photographs is stunning, to say the least. But mostly I leave my eyelids alone, though I have recently wondered if they could be profitably pierced with safety pins as a form of general diffuse aggression.

This is turning out quite gruesome. I wanted to write something about the velvety touch of a fluttering eyelid, like a butterfly landing softly on an opening flower, but other stories are more interesting. Like the one about putting toothpicks behind the eyelids to keep them open, or the story I once heard about someone who got a grain of wheat in the eye and then had long green stalks growing out of it. Probably not completely true, but you never know.

Have you ever successfully closed the eye by just moving the lower lid? If so, let me know how it is done.