Dear Christina,
I think is is very poignant.
The only tiny nit I have is 'clearer images might show' the impersonal
conditional  seems to move it out a bit too far....
Kind regards,
             grasshopper

----- Original Message -----
From: Christina Fletcher
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 8:35 PM
Subject: [THE-WORKS] Feet - second draft


Wonder whether this solves the problems with the first draft?
bw
c


           Feet

           When I see the photographs, I think of feet:
           how the child would have sat as its mother
           unrolled socks to pull over small toes,
           how she would have eased them into those shoes,

           smoothing wrinkled wool, rocking the heel
             and fastening buckles so they were just right.
           Clearer images might show scuff marks
           or the notch that measured the child's arch.

           I think of sandals and boots too: some polished,
           others not.  The way laces might be tight
           or slack or threaded differently, the ease
           or struggle to tie a hurried knot.

           Sometimes feet are all that's left - the shoes
           in all styles and sizes, old or new,
           are the last witnesses of daily life
           or the final visible act of love.







           christina fletcher