Food; Feet

One among many things I learned:

Underfed, and your ankles swell;

Steps up or down – a hobbling oldie,

Your thighs grow fat, leak fluid.

 

Think of the Yazidis in Iraq, fled

To the mountains, choosing life,

Needing food.  They clamber onto

Those heights, and starving ankles puff.

 

Here in safe Chelsea, I walk slowly

Out of the park, watching my steps

On the ground, watching the little girl

Push her pink doll’s chariot over the grass.

 

Written at The Royal Marsden Hospital, Chelsea