FACES AND HANDS

It was the faces and hands
of the children
I remembered most of all.
Dressed in rags or
sometimes naked,
arms outstretched
looking up at us
begging for scraps of food.

I don't know how many
foreign kids
have dined on
good old Kiwi army
chocolate, (wrapped in
green camouflage
just so the uglies
couldn't see us eating).

Who could resist those small
open hands, or the faces,
or the spontaneous laughter
when one of the Maori Gunners
pulls an impromptu pukana.

I guess the numbers must be
legion... and anyway, there was
always that lazy old can of lamb,
peas and gristle at the bottom
of the pack if you really got
in the shit for a feed.
I think I hated the Oak canning factory
more than I hated the communists.

©Copyright March 2004 by Mike Subritzky

Submitted for the March 2004 IWVPA Club Theme Project, Children