Be a man,

be a man, you say,

whatever that means.

 

I am a man but

that is not your meaning,

for you ask me to

be what I am not,

or cannot conceive.

 

I am, rather, a man divided—

with all the parts that

make me a man,

but not the parts that 

makes me the man

you believe I should be.

 

I shall forever fall short 

and live with the ignominy 

of being just a person

who is no man at all.

 

16/1/2020