They pass by slowly,hands held out smiling eyed and greedy mouthed' back up against the wall I plead in tearful confusion--I can't pay.
and in the corners of my mind they stand tight lipped,pale eyed. wavering fingers point with scorn and they whisper,whisper,whisper.
"Who is the guilty one ?" they say "any less than I !" they cry "and you !" their fingers point"can't pay!" and they whisper,whisper,whisper.
The hungry sit in silent rows the wailing old man baby grows too weak to **** the empty breast too weak to cry above the rest.
It's mother, old beyond her years, her children drowning in her tears, won't live to see another day and why? well she can't pay.
They pass by slowly hands held out hollow eyed and hungry mouthed back up against the wall they plead in tearful confusion -- they can't pay .
written in 1984 just before Christmas .The famine in Ethiopia was in the news and I, as the mother of a new baby who worried about the electric bill and the cost of food etc saw another mother in another place who couldn't feed her children.