It's Still Life

The Old Woman and Marcel
(or the universe remembers its own size)

The Old Woman was writing about short things when a mouse climbs onto the table.

‘Small,’ she said, looking at him.
‘Relative,’ said Marcel, looking at the cheese.

Then he wrote:

Short

My legs are short.
My reach is shorter.
But leave the cheese too near the edge,
and see how tall I get.