All language subtitles for The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) .en

The strange,
almost unbelievable story

of Robert Scott Carey

began on a very ordinary
summer day.

I know this story
better than anyone,

because I am
Robert Scott Carey.

This is the way
to spend a vacation.

I'm thirsty.

That sun feels good.

I'm thirsty.

Interesting.

A cold bottle of beer
would taste fine.

Why don't you get it?

Me?
Mmm-hmm.

I'm on vacation. All week.

Well, so am I, my friend.

Louise?

I think we should get married.

We've been married
for six years.

Really?
Mmm-hmm.

Seems like six minutes.

I am not going to get you
that beer.

Now I provide the boat,
you provide the beer.

Your brother
provided the boat.

Okay, I'll make a deal
with you.

What?

You get the beer.
I'll get the dinner.
How's that?

Okay, you got yourself a deal.

To the galley, wench.
Fetch me a flagon of beer.

I'm sorry, Captain,
but we're all out
of flagons this trip.

It'll have to be
a can of beer.

Out of flagons!
Mmm-hmm.

In the name of heavens, woman,
how are we to make
the Philippines?

We're not going
to the Philippines, sir.

We're going home
at the end of the week.

Mutiny!

Make them cold.

Like ice.

Scott, what was that?

I don't know,
some kind of mist.

Look at your chest.

But then,
on an equally ordinary day,

six months later...

Good morning, Joe.
Good morning, Mrs. Carey.

Looks like a nice day, huh?

See you tomorrow.

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.

Come on, Butch. That's a boy!

There you go.

Scott! Scott,
are you dressed yet?

I'll be right there.

All right.

Lou!

Yes, dear?

Honey, are you sure
you got the right pants
back from the cleaner's?

Just a second.

You asked the same question
yesterday morning.

Well, they still
don't fit right.

Are they still too loose?

Sure. Even the cuffs
are dragging.

Gee, they do look
kind of big.

You better talk
to that cleaner's.

I don't know what he's doing,
but tell him to cut it out.

You're probably
just losing weight.

And it's very becoming,
so don't complain.

You want one or two eggs?

One.

One? Now, that's why
your pants don't fit.

Lou!

Yeah?

Hey, for the love of Pete,
the shirt doesn't fit either.

Well, it's your shirt, honey.
It's got your monogram on it.

Well, what's
that supposed...
Now, come on and sit down

and eat your breakfast,
and forget about it.

Gee, I know a lot of people
who'd like to lose
a little weight.

What's your secret?

Maybe, it's the cooking
around here.

Well, thanks a lot.
Drink your orange juice.

Lou, do me a favor.

What, honey?

Pick up
a bathroom scale today.

All right.

Still get 5'11", Mr. Carey.

I've been 6'1"
since I was 17.

What's the weight?

Still 174
and a quarter pounds.

I don't understand it.

That's a loss of
almost 10 pounds.

Well, I told you, Mr. Carey,
you're probably
overworking yourself.

You told me that
when you overwork

you get nervous
and tend to lose weight.

Yes, but I've never lost
that much weight.

Besides, I haven't been
particularly nervous lately.

Anyway, not eating
wouldn't make me lose height,
would it?

I very much doubt
if you've been losing height,
Mr. Carey.

Why don't you
put your things on?

You told me
that you've been 6'1"
since you were 17 years old?

That's right.

How many physical examinations
have you had since then?

At the draft board.

In the Navy,
and a life insurance physical.

That's not too many, is it?

And it's quite possible
there might have been errors

made in all of them
as regards your height.

That very often happens.

There are a number of things
that could cause such errors.

For example,
if you stood erect,

you'd measure out as taller
than you actually are,

or if your height was taken
in the morning,

you'd measure out as taller.

Why is that?

Because people actually
decrease in height
during the day.

You see, the body weight
compresses the spinal disks,

the bone joints, and so on.

I see.

Two inches, Doctor?

Well, I wouldn't
worry about it, Mr. Carey.

As far as I can see,
you're in perfect health.

You've likely
lost a little weight,
due to an insufficient diet,

but people don't get shorter,
Mr. Carey.

They just don't get shorter.

What'd Charlie think
about your idea
for the newspaper ad?

Huh?

He thinks
it has possibilities.

Well?

Four pounds.
Up or down?

Down.

Well, that does it, my boy.
You're going to
start taking vitamins.

I'm gonna get you so fat
on ice cream and cake,

you'll think you're living
in a child's paradise.

I don't think
that's gonna fix it, Lou.

Well, then, we'll go and see
a doctor, honey.

You're due for a check up,
anyway.

I've already seen a doctor.

When?
A week ago.

Well, honey,
why didn't you say
something about it?

Come here, Louise.

Kiss me.

You think
that's gonna fix it, huh?

You didn't have to stretch.

You used to stand on your toes
when you did that.

Why, in your stocking feet?

I'm getting smaller, Lou,
every day.

Well, that's silly, honey.
People just don't get smaller.

Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

We'll go back
to the doctor tomorrow.

I'm sure he's got
a pill for it.

Don't worry, Butch.
Everything's
gonna be all right.

Go to bed.

Well, that's the last of them,
Mr. Carey.

This has been a long week,
Dr. Bramson.

I must've
worn out your machine.

I needed two full sets
of pictures,
spaced several days apart.

I had to compare them
before I...

Before I could be sure.

Sure of what, Doctor?
What is it?

Relax, Doctor.
You can't tell me anything
I haven't imagined.

You are getting smaller.

I don't profess
to understand it, Mr. Carey.

There's no medical precedent
for what's happening to you.

I simply know
that you're getting smaller.

The X-rays prove it
beyond any doubt.

But that's impossible.

That's what we've
always believed, Mrs. Carey.

I'm going to send you to the
California Medical
Research Institute.

If there is an explanation
for your phenomenon,

why, they'll find it.

Then began a series
of intensive tests.

I drank a barium solution

and stood behind
a fluoroscope screen.

They gave me
radioactive iodine,

and an examination
with a Geiger counter.

I had electrodes
fastened to my head.

Water restriction tests.
Protein bond tests.

Eye tests. Blood cultures.
X- rays and more X-rays.

Tests. Endless tests.

And then one day
in the third week,

the final examination.

A paper chromatography test.

Now, don't be despondent,
Mr. Carey.

At least we've found out
what is happening to you,

gradual loss of nitrogen,
calcium, phosphorus.

This test may tell us why.

I hope so.

I think the strip
should be dry by now.

We should find phospholipid,
amino acids,

cholesterol, creatinine
and protein.

These are the elements
most commonly found
on this strip.

Wait a minute.

This one doesn't belong.

It certainly doesn't belong.
Here, take a look.

Our analysis shows
that it's a rearrangement

of the molecular structure
of the cells in your body.

You mean like a cancer?

No.

No, more like an anti-cancer,

causing a diminution
of all the organs
proportionately.

Then you know
what's causing me
to get smaller.

We think we do, Mr. Carey.
That's why I asked you here.

Now, I want you
to tell me something.

Have you ever been
accidentally exposed
to any kind of germ spray?

In particular, an insecticide?

A great deal of insecticide?

Insecticide?

Exactly.

Has there ever been a time
when you were so exposed?

Do you remember
that day I came home
and told you about the truck?

Yes, about two months ago.

I was on my way to the store
through a back alley.

As I was walking
a truck turned in.
It was spraying trees.

Do you think
that's what's causing me to...

No, that was only
the beginning.

You see, something happened
to that insecticide

after it was in your system.

Something fantastic
and unprecedented.

Something which,
in layman's terms,
so affected the insecticide

that from a mildly virulent
germ spray,

it created
deadly chemical reversal
of the growth process.

Have you been exposed
to any type of radioactivity

in the past six months?

Oh, no. Of course not.

I don't come in contact
with anything like that.

I work in an advertising...
Scott, wait a minute!

That day we were on the boat.

The boat?

Charlie's boat. Remember?

Well, yes, I remember, but...

The mist.

That mist.

Do you want me
to drive, honey?

No, I'm all right.

Louise,

I want you
to start thinking about us,

our marriage.

Some awful things
might happen.

There's a limit
to your obligation.

Now, wait a minute.

Look, I love you.

Don't you know that?

You love Scott Carey.

He has a size and a shape
and a way of thinking.

All that's changing now.

Not a darned thing's changed.
I know I haven't.

When I married you,
I meant what I said.

And as long as you've got
this wedding ring on,

you've got me.

Come on now,
let's go home, huh?

The truth is,
I just lost
the Bannister account.

You know how big
that account was.
Probably 40% of my income.

Well, it's gone now,

and I just can't afford
to send you
your pay checks anymore.

You've done everything
that a brother
possibly could do.

Look, I don't like
to say this,

but, well, there've been
some reporters
over at the plant.

Looks like somebody
at the medical center
talked about you.

I told them
there was nothing in it,

but one of the reporters
stayed behind.

He was from the
American Press Syndicate.

He said they might pay
for the story if it's true.

Scott, the story's going
to break anyway eventually.

So, whether you make them
pay or not,

they're going to make
the most of it,

so make them pay.

No, Charlie.

Well, think about it.

All right.
I'll think about it.

But really,
was there any choice?

We owed a great deal of money,
and I had no job.

There was no choice.
None at all.

And so I became famous.

And still Robert Scott Carey,

known to a nation as the
Incredible Shrinking Man,

keeps getting smaller.

How long
will this phenomenon continue?

I want to apply
for an unlisted line, please.

Top research men at
the California Medical
Research Institute...

This is a special case.

... are still searching
for an anti-toxin...

My name is Louise Carey.
My husband...

Carey. C-A-R-E-Y.

No one knows.

Now, look, we've got to have
an unlisted line.

That's all there is to it.

I talked to you yesterday.

Has he come out yet?

How big is he now?

Have you seen him?

He's gotta come out
some time. Let's wait.

Have they taken
a movie of him?

What's the television truck
doing here?

We return you now
to Magic Melodies.

Yes, thank you very much.

Scott?

Scott, I've...

I've canceled our phone.

What?

I said, I've canceled
our phone.

They're gonna try to get us
an unlisted line
some time next week.

What do you mean,
"They're gonna try"?

Why, they're just gonna try,
honey.

There are a lot of people
waiting for unlisted lines.

Didn't you tell them
who you're married to?

The Incredible Scott Carey?
The shrinking freak?

Scott, don't.
Use your influence, Louise.

I'm a big man. I'm famous.

Please don't.

Those reporters out there.
Why don't you
tell them about it?

Give them a new angle
for their papers.

Or will I save it for my book?

Yeah, that's what I'll do.

A whole chapter
devoted to telephones

and one more joke
for the world to laugh at!

Scott, people know.

They realize,
they're not laughing at you.

They're not?
No.

Why not? It's funny, isn't it?

But it is.

See how funny I am?
The child that looks
like a man.

Go on, laugh, Louise.
Be like everyone else.
It's all right.

Well, why can't you
look at me?

Look at me!

Don't, Scott!

If they'd just let us alone.

If they'd just let us alone!

Lou, honey. I'm sorry.

I must be losing my mind,
talking to you like this.

No, honey. I'm all right.

I know
what you must be suffering.

Do you?

Yes, I guess it's been
a nightmare for you, too.

Maybe we've forgotten
how to hope.

But, Scott, there's so much
to hope for.

Any day now the doctors say
they may find the anti-toxin.

Sure.

Lou, let's get out
of this place
before we both go crazy.

Somewhere where nobody
can find us.

All right, Scott.
I'll look for something.

And try...

Try not to worry.

No, I'll let
the doctors worry.

I'm two days behind
on my book.

October 17th.

Height, 36 and a half inches.

Weight, 52 pounds.

We haven't been able to find
a new house,

and there still is no privacy,
no relief,

and no word
from the Medical Center.

I fear that what life
remains to me...

Hello. Yes, this is Carey.

Louise!

Yes, Scott.

The anti-toxin!
They've found it.

Oh, Scott.

Are you sure?

Dr. Silver wants us
down there. Right away.

There's something
you both must understand.

We're working
with unknown factors.

Nothing is guaranteed.

We're 50% sure
this will be effective.

For the other 50%,
we'll just have to pray.

How long before we'll know?

Mr. Carey will remain here
under observation for a week.

We should have the answer
by then.

Are you ready?

Ready.

Weight, 52 pounds.

Height, 36 and a half inches.

What was last week's reading?

Weight, 52 pounds.
Height, 36 and a half inches.

No change, Doctor.

It's all over, Scott.
You're gonna be all right.

How long will it take,
Dr. Silver,

to be normal again?

You can put on your robe now.

That will be all, Miss Maltby.

Mr. Carey,
we seem to have checked

the degenerative process
of your disease.

We've won that much.

At this moment
the growth capacity
of your body

is as limited as any adult's.

Whether or not
you'll grow again
is another question.

To help you, we face
a whole new set of problems.

Then I'll spend
the rest of my life like this?

Mr. Carey, I assure you,
we'll go on working.

Every day we'll
push our knowledge further,

until, one day,
we might have
the whole answer.

Thank you, Doctor.

My relationships
with the world
had ceased with everyone,

except my wife.

And I knew I was
driving Lou from me,

but burning inside,

adding its own
hideous pressure
to everything else,

was my desperate need for her.

Do you want the paper, Scott?

No. No, thank you.

Well, I think I'll turn in.

Come on. There.

Coming to bed?

Yeah, soon.

Well, good night, then.

Good night, Louise.

I felt puny and absurd.

A ludicrous midget.

Easy enough to talk
of soul and spirit
and essential worth.

But not when you're
three feet tall.

I loathed myself, our home,

the caricature my life
with Lou had become.

I had to get out.

I had to get away.

For the first time
since it happened,
I ran into the night, alone.

Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Here it is, folks.

The greatest show
on the midway.

Come on in and see
all the freaks
and curiosities.

See Dolly Dumpling,
the Fat Lady.

She weighs 840 pounds.

When she sits down
she shakes and quivers

like a bowl of jelly
on a cold and frosty morning.

See Flamo!
Flamo, the fire-eater.

Here is one of the
greatest attractions

you will ever see
in your born days!

You will remember
these sights for the rest
of your natural life!

Time for the big show!

I would like you to meet
a few of the exhibits here
on the platform!

And first we have Tiny Tina!

Here she is!

Thirty-six and a half inches
of feminine pulchritude!

You'll see freaks
and curiosities

assembled from every part
of the globe!

The most unusual apparitions
assembled under this tent,

contrived by a tricky
Mother Nature!

Here they are
in all their glory!

This exhibit
is not only entertaining...

Hurry, hurry, hurry!
Here it is folks.

One of the greatest shows
on the midway.

Come on in and see
all the freaks
and curiosities.

See Dolly Dumpling,
the Fat Lady.

She weighs 840 pounds.

When she sits down
she shakes and quivers

like a bowl of jelly
on a cold and frosty morning.

See Flamo! Flamo the...

Hello.

Mind if I sit down?

No, please do.

Don't be late, Clarice.

I won't.

Hi.

Hi.

Pass me the sugar, huh?

Oh, sure.

I haven't
seen you here before.
You coming with the carnival?

Oh, no, I... No.

Just visiting then, huh?

Yeah.

I'm Clarice Bruce.

My name's Scott Carey.

Hi, Scott.

Scott Carey?

Look, look, I'm sorry.

Maybe you don't want
any company.

No, don't go.
I want you to stay.

Talk to me.

All right.

How do you live with it,
Miss Bruce?

What do you do?

I was born a midget.
It's the way I grew up.

I know what's happened to you
and, well, that's different.

Different?

That's another way
of saying "alone," isn't it?

But you're not alone now.

Still, it must be hard
to forget the way things were.

Yeah. I'd like to burn it
out of my mind.

Maybe the best way to begin
is to start thinking
about the future.

A future?
In a world of giants?

I've lived with them
all my life.

Scott, for people like
you and me,

the world can be
a wonderful place.

The sky is as blue
as it is for the giants,

the friends are as warm.

I wish I could believe that.

You've got to believe that,
don't you?

Yeah.

Give me time, Clarice.
I'll learn.

I'll be late for my show.

Look. Can I see you again?

If you like.

I would.

You know, Scott,
you're taller than I am.

May I?

Thank you.

That night
I got a grip on life again.

I went back to work
on my book.

It absorbed me completely.

I was telling the world
of my experience.

And with the telling,

it became easier.

I think it's just fine, Scott.

Do you really think so?
I'm not much of a writer.

Just trying to tell
what it's like.

Clarice, you don't know
what it's meant to me,

meeting someone like you,
someone who understands.

But you're so much
better now, Scott.

Thanks to you.

Not to me. Yourself.

You've just stopped running,
that's all.

All I know is,
I can wake up in the morning

and want to live again.

Actually want to live.

It's a funny thing.
Sometimes when I'm working,

I begin to think
it's the world that's changed,

that I'm the normal one.

Well, that sounds like
a good thing.

Everybody out of step
but you and me.

Come on, I'll buy you a drink.

We can talk
about another chapter.

What is it, Scott?

Two weeks ago
I was taller than you.

You said so yourself.

Well, yes, I remember, but...

Well, can't you see?

I'm shorter now.

Oh, Scott.

It's starting again.
It's starting.

It's starting again!

Scott?

Scott?

Scott, are you in there?

Do you have to make
such a racket?

I told you
what happens in there.

I'm sorry, Scott.
I try to be careful.

Are you going out?

Well, yes, for a little while.

Where?

Well, just to the corner.
To the store.

You'll come right back?

Well, of course I will.

Now look,
why don't you try
to get some rest?

You know Dr. Silver wants
to see you again tomorrow.

All right. Go ahead.
Be sure the doors are locked.

Every day it was worse.

Every day a little smaller.

And everyday I became
more tyrannical,

more monstrous
in my domination of Louise.

Heaven knows how she lived
through those weeks.

Only I had the power
to release her,

if I could find the courage
to end my wretched existence.

But each day I thought,
"Perhaps tomorrow.

"Tomorrow the doctors
will save me. "

Scott!

No. No.

No.

Oh, Scott.

Scott.

...drew deafening applause
when he announced that,

if elected,
he will do everything
in his power

to reduce taxes.

From Los Angeles today,
a tragic story,

the passing
of Robert Scott Carey.

The report of the death
of the so-called Shrinking Man

comes from his brother.

Carey's death
was the result of an attack

by a common house cat,
a former pet
in the Carey home.

Carey was the victim
of the most fantastic ailment

in the annals of medicine.

Thus ends the life of a man
whose courage
and will to survive

lasted until the very end.

A man whose fantastic story

was known
to virtually every man,

woman and child
in the civilized world.

Mr. Carey.
Yes?

Now for the sports...

You may go up now.
She wants to see you.

Is she all right?
Barely resting.

The doctor gave her
a heavy sedative,

but it's
hardly working at all.

I see.

I'll get
that prescription filled.
I'll be back in a minute.

Fine.

My return
to consciousness was a plunge
into a new level of pain.

I realized I had fallen
into a box.

Its walls enclosed me
like some gigantic pit.

I had to escape
out of the box.

Somehow I had to reach Louise
to survive.

The stairs stretched above me,
as far as I could see,

cliff rising upon cliff.

I knew I could never
scale them.

Louise!

Louise!

The cellar!
Look in the cellar!

Louise, please look for me!
Louise!

Eventually, Louise would
come to the cellar.

Until then,
I had to keep myself alive

with whatever resources
I could discover
in my basement universe

and in myself.

The cellar floor stretched
before me like some vast,
primeval plain,

empty of life,

littered with the relics
of a vanished race.

No desert-island castaway
ever faced so bleak
a prospect.

I had discovered
a water supply

and even a dwelling place.

Now, the search for food.

I knew my ill-fitting clothes

were unsuited to the exertions
that lay before me.

You can't stay here, Louise.
Not now.

I don't know, Charlie.
I don't know
what I want to do.

Lou, let me help you.

You can stay with us,
but just get out of here.

If I could just be sure.

Charlie, maybe he's
hurt someplace.
Maybe he's lost.

We've looked everywhere.
He's dead.

I'm his own brother.

I wouldn't say
a thing like that
if I wasn't sure.

You saw the cat.
All right. All right.

Charlie, have you thought
how horrible
it must have been?

I just keep thinking
that he needed me

and I wasn't there.

I wasn't there.
Louise.

You've got to get it
out of your mind.

I'll never get it
out of my mind.

I'll talk to the
real estate people.

I never doubted that sometime
Louise would come.

I couldn't allow myself
to doubt.

I had only to exist,

to search out enough food
to sustain me.

I was driven by hunger,

and also by
the horrible thought
that without nourishment

the shrinking process
was quickening.

I was weak and faint.

Yet I knew in order to exist,
I must eat.

The food was still
a long climb ahead of me.

But now, stretching endlessly
before me,

I found a deep abyss.

It was only a box
and the space between,

yet to me it was
the Grand Canyon and the
Mammoth Caves combined.

Deep,

dark,

mysterious and dangerous.

There was no possible way
to cross.

No matter how inventive,

how resourceful
I thought myself,

this time,

in sight of my goal,
it seemed as if
I must meet defeat.

Suddenly,
I saw an opportunity.

If I could move the stick
to the other side...

I cursed myself.

If only I were
a little bigger,
a little stronger.

I realized there was just
this one chance,

and I had no choice.

I had to take it.

If I could leap
from the paint stick

and reach the other side.

But there was no time
to think,

only to act.

My prison.

Almost as far as I could see,

a gray, friendless area

of space and time.

And I resolved

that as man had dominated
the world of the sun,

so I would dominate my world.

In my hunt for food,

I had become the hunted.

This time I survived.

But I was no longer alone
in my universe.

I had an enemy,

the most terrifying
ever beheld by human eyes.

Charlie, there's a small trunk
that I'd like to take with me,

if you don't mind.

It's in the basement.
I'll show you where.

All right,
I'd better put these
in the car first.

All right.

Oh, no. It's flooded.

- It's the water heater.
- I'd better have a look.

This is terrible.

I'll turn the water off.

Louise, look for me. Louise!

Charlie! Charlie, I'm here!

Charlie! Louise!

The water! Here in the water!

Charlie!

I smell gas.
Is that pilot off?

I'll turn it off.

Louise! Listen to me! Louise!

Louise! Hear me, please!
Please!

Can you fix it?

There.

I'll get a plumber
down here tomorrow.

Charlie!

Where's your drain?

Well, it's right about there.
It must be clogged.

Charlie, look for me!

Is that the trunk, Louise?

Oh, yes, Charlie.
But don't bother about it.

It's so wet,
I'll pick it up later.

It's okay.

I want you packed
and out of this house tonight.

Is that everything, Louise?

Yes, that's everything.

I still had my weapons.

With these bits of metal
I was a man again.

If I was to die,
it would not be
as a helpless insect

in the jaws
of the spider monster.

A strange calm possessed me.

I thought more clearly
than I had ever thought
before,

as if my mind were bathed
in a brilliant light.

I recognized
that part of my illness

was rooted in hunger,

and I remembered
the food on the shelf.

The cake threaded
with the spider web.

I no longer felt hatred
for the spider.

Like myself,
it struggled blindly
for the means to live.

If I was to fight it,
if I was to win the food,

then it must be now,
while strength remained,

while I was still
of sufficient size
to scale the wall.

It was not decision
that drove me to the crate,

but reflex, as instinctive
as the spider's.

My legs trembled,
not with fear,

but weakness.

Yet somehow I felt
within myself
a new source of power,

a giant strength,
urging me to the
death-struggle.

My enemy seemed immortal.

More than a spider.

It was every unknown terror
in the world,

every fear fused
into one hideous,
night-black horror.

Still, whatever else
had happened,

my brain was a man's brain,

my intelligence
still a man's intelligence.

An idea came to me.

The scissors.

Too heavy for me to employ
as a weapon,

they might have another use.

If I could impale the monster
with my hook,

fastened by a line
to the scissors,

then push the scissors
off the ledge...

Whatever the risk,

it was worth a try.

I knew sooner or later

it would come
charging down that web,

skimming out blackly
toward me.

One of us had to die.

Come on down.

Come on, you devil!
I'm waiting for you! Come on!

This was the prize I had won.

I approached it
in an ecstasy of elation.

I had conquered.

I lived.

But even as I touched the dry,
flaking crumbs of nourishment,

it was as if my body
had ceased to exist.

There was no hunger.

No longer the terrible fear
of shrinking.

Again I had the sensation
of instinct,

of each movement,

each thought tuned
to some great directing force.

I was continuing to shrink.

To become what?

The infinitesimal?

What was I?

Still a human being?

Or was I the man
of the future?

If there were other bursts
of radiation,

other clouds drifting across
seas and continents,

would other beings follow me
into this vast new world?

So close, the infinitesimal
and the infinite.

But, suddenly I knew
they were really the two ends

of the same concept.

The unbelievably small
and the unbelievably vast

eventually meet,

like the closing
of a gigantic circle.

I looked up,

as if somehow
I would grasp the heavens.

The universe.
Worlds beyond number.

God's silver tapestry
spread across the night.

And in that moment,

I knew the answer
to the riddle of the infinite.

I had thought
in terms of man's own
limited dimension.

I had presumed upon nature.

That existence begins and ends

is man's conception,
not nature's.

And I felt my body dwindling,

melting,

becoming nothing.

My fears melted away,

and in their place
came acceptance.

All this vast majesty
of creation,

it had to mean something.

And then
I meant something, too.

Yes, smaller
than the smallest,

I meant something, too.

To God there is no zero.

I still exist.