A Subject for Inquest

A little boy -
Belly bulging
With delight,
And, Black-blotched without,
From ice cream dripping
That didn't make it.

A little boy -
Feet dirty
From city cement,
And hard-crusted with skin
Abrased by their piston action
On the baked pavement.

A little boy -
In blue bathing trunks
Covering white buttocks
Untouched by prairie sun
But, bobbing busily in response
To the piston feet.

A little boy -
In desperate competition
With traffic lights
And diesel trucks with weary drivers,
Frightened, as a panicked fawn
Encircled by snarling wolves.

A little boy -
Belly full - piston feet dirty,
Buttocks white, but now still,
Lying, limply lifeless
In a weeping mother's arms
Dead, in the hot summer.

KES Summer 1967