ELEPHANTS IN AFRICA
Angela Gatin
Your leg isn’t getting better
Because you’re still guarding something,
He said.
How could you know that?
You’ve only spoken to me twice,
She said.
Remember the elephants in Africa.
They may pull free of the trap
But the broken rope stays tied to their leg.
Skin and infection grow over the rope
It festers inside; buried deeply
Until the elephant is crippled, then dies.
You don’t have to know someone
To know their problems
You only have to know what it feels like
To walk with a limp.