Dwarf

I am a dwarf,
Remembering the
Long slow years of misery.
Feeling again
The countless moments
Of exclusion.
Living once more
My desire to run away
From ordinary people’s lives.
From invitations
To “come for walks.”
Where gates are clambered over,
Rugged hillsides climbed,
Long miles rambled.

I am a dwarf
Whose wound you’ve touched,
Laying bare
My naked difference.
You, who so easily
Have loved through the night
And call to me
To join you in those pleasures.
While I,
With such failures
In my mind and heart
Recoil at the invitation.
And you, unwittingly perhaps
Talk to me
Of easy times with sex,
Tearing protective clothes
From off my
Malformed limbs
Exposing me
To all my hurts
And my inadequacy.

Copyright ©2006 Tony Crisp