Today’s poem

She wandered up and down and round the supermarket aisles In her crimplene top and

skirt that didn’t match. A battered woollen hat hid

her grey and straggly hair And her cardigan was

mended with a patch. She seemed confused and ill at ease, not knowing what to do Amidst the bustling shoppers

and the din And the shoppers gave her surly looks, for her trolley blocked the aisle As she peered to read the

price on every tin. They tutted and they glared as she tried to make her choice, Tried to deal with pence and

grams instead of pounds. For her memory was failing,

not for yesterday but now And she had to make her

meagre cash go round. She placed her paltry purchases in front of the cashier, She’d bought just little bits of

this and that. The very bare necessities

she’d need to stay alive And a little tin of salmon

for her cat. She fumbled for her coins with her bent, arthritic hands, Aware that she was old and

in the way And no one tried to help her,

or said a kindly word, They never even passed the

time of day. They never saw her tears as

she shambled on her way In her badly fitting clothes

and woolly hat. She shuffled home to safety

with her single plastic bag And a little tin of salmon for

her cat.

Mrs Ann Wood, Kirkby Woodhouse, Notts.