Sandaled Feet
- Details
- Written June 2009
Latex drips from scarified trunks
Collected and congealed for moulding
Round limbs disjointedly misshapen,
Collapsed arches remodelled for function
As we walk gently down unpaved paths
Stigmatising sandals we’d rather not be wearing.
Blood drips from a wounded body
Soaking itself into earth that soils our feet
To become our means of transformation;
New creatures for a new world
As we walk gently downhill
Leaving others to gamble for his chappals. [1]
Tears dry within, unshed,
Sympathectomised from feeling
So that sorrow switches off - parched emotion
Mourning his death in sackcloth and ashes
As we walk gently down the valley of sorrow
Leaving him in the tomb, unshod.
A basin of collected rain
Does the round of foot-washing
Stone, thorn and nail-pierced
Anticipating some intangible touch
As we buckle up with new-found joy
And a dignity we want the world to see.
June 2009
The Leprosy Mission, International Assembly, Niagara Falls, Canada
Photograph by courtesy: Noel Aranha – Sandaled Feet, Dhanbad Project, India.
See also: Leprosy at Chikankata
See also: Leprosy at Chikankata