Nothing Doing
on a visit to a dying nun

and again seeing
the rubble of some impossible buildings
people are emerging through the tangled mess
probably a three-year-old girl
her left hand holds a tatty bear
her right hand is held tight by her mother

the camera focuses on her face
her eyes vacant, expressionless
someone in the nursing-home
presses the remote

the screen blanks
nothing

she is propped up by two cushions
prepared for my visit
she gives a gentle smile

as blue eyes spark into life
her frail hand motions
to the chair by her bed
I think it sad that she will
leave this world in such
a hopeless state

soon she will be silent
her body gone
nothing

but when Russians fire their bullets
she will be there in her nothing
bleeding her impervious spirit
while holding the hand
of a three-year-old girl

Richard Scutter July 2022

The image of the child portrayed in the above was from TV news footage several months back.