Writers Challenge League - "Midgets"

[Brian Bryan]

The littlest things always seem to annoy me
I mean midgets and miniature people who point &
are physically similar, just smaller in scale.
We live in familiar hoardings but they’ll –
obsess on the differences, not commonalities,
That’s the length and the width of it; One sees the parity
the other the contrasts and how we diverge
from the subtle to bombastic - It’s out of this world!
I found it absurd how a matter that I’ve
no control over though, like my stature and size,
could pass as divisive. Their hatred of me
blatantly seems to stem from what I can’t change in the least.
They’re my neighbours, my people, or so you would think
but their hatred, their evil’s, a sobering sting.
The motive to bring such venom my way
has me close to the brink. We’re all separate the same
at the end of the day. All told to get by
walk tall through our short falls & hold our heads high.
But I’ve been known to let slide their tireless presumptions
taking most in my stride – I’m a Giant amongst them –
Their cries of revulsion are fuel to the fire
that drives my compulsion. It’s been used to inspire
me through this entire verse. It’s tough at the top
when you’re a mountain of a man & there’s nothing to stop
you floundering as amateurs wait for you to fall.
You’re surrounded by their gasps, but you’re not taken in at all,
you embrace it and stand tall knowing they look up to you.
Even straighten your back more. What they say is nothing new
to a great as such is you while you’re standing defiant
knowing your shoulders are broader than their horizons.
But don’t pander to the bias, and don’t just get by,
But do walk tall through their short falls and hold your head high…


- Lemuel Gulliver