"It was a pretty good living for a kid"

The Diet of Worms

I used to sweep the floor at the barber shop
And then sell the hair to Mr. Atherton
Packed by the lug box for a quarter a pop
Who fed it to his worms until he was gone

I had not known worms ate human hair before
But Mr. Atherton assured me they did
And that they would go on to eat a lot more

It was a pretty good living for a kid

Although when I agreed to the position
I only thought of life with lots of money
Not of the riddle of decomposition

Yet in an ending both tragic and funny
And in any case awe-inspiringly weird
The worms I fed consumed Mr. Atherton
A very strange outcome not thought so not feared

Feeding him to his worms until he was gone
Just as he wished I became a magician
And I learned his secrets all at once one day

Mortality is only a worm away

+Steven Curtis Lance



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