Shrinking Violet

I have grown too small
For these clothes which fall
Freely from this frame
Which still bears my name
But which got stripped down
In a lonesome town
Purified through pain
Never found again
Just what you see here
What is left of me

Small sharp and severe
Respiring just so
My children can be
Not bereft of me
I live as I can
If transparently
A visible man
Shrinking visibly
I have a few friends
Who telephone me

As I make amends
With mortality
I usually hide
But if I go out
Escape from inside
Two legs and one chance
Kind young people shout
"Hello Mr. Lance!"
The older ones know
A little more fate
So they smile and wait
To see me below

+Steven Curtis Lance



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