Elliot
Canto XVII
Too long for two legs
To support a whole body
My muscles grow weak
My balancing shoddy
But against all the odds
In a world full of nothing
I nearly lose balance
As I bump into something
A scream in the darkness
“I’m sorry” I say
What are you?” The reply
“I’m Elliot and
I’m just kind of some guy”
“You just got here, it seems
You have some sense of self
Eventually all
In the darkness shall melt”
“I’m just passing through
I won’t be here long”
“When we all arrived
We sang that same song”
“We’ll find our way out”
I reach out for a hand
“If we stick together
This darkness will end.
We have each other
To affirm we exist
We have a way
To get through all of this”
A Life in Poems 