"Henry Moore and maquette of Mother and Child"
a photograph by Lord Snowdon — 1983)


O mother
little mother
sparse bone
with a
disenchanted eye
and plucked
out womb
you are
still cherished
valued a prize
in his bed
of fingers

and yet
the soft
touch warmth
long bend
of thumb
that pets
it wipes
a tear
in a bed
of fingers
that’s also
a bed
of nails
rough cut
with dirty linen
well and truly used