This morning I decided not to attend services,
knowing it was wrong, but with a linger longer,
afterward, well, it is not who I am; a slab of ham
filled with gristle that bristles if asked to be social.
It is nothing new. I've been a Scrooge since infancy.
Perhaps, being the lone son of a man having
five daughters, I was treated differently.
I was also the smallest in the household, so,
I got less to eat, like the runt from a pig's litter.
That set the tone for being alone throughout
grammar and high school, in addition to college.
Even in the fun-filled setting of a Greek fraternity,
I pledged to be known thereafter as "Silent Eddy."
A solitary man who drifts away from congeniality.
It is who I was, am, and likely shall always be.