FOR ALI* ?

We'll shell out alms
For Ali-without-arms;
He'll be as sound
As our sons, when they're found.

Grafts grow new skin
For Ali-without-kin;
So keep your tears
For us in after years.

Better by far,
For Ali-media-star,
To turn his head,
And stare elsewhere instead.

                    (Apologies to John Pudney)


*Ali Ismail Abbas (12), whose armless body, after his entire close family
were killed, became the icon of anti-war protest - and the object of
shame-saving, British medical generosity.