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  • Bill Smith

Bone cancer

By Bill Smith





Old frog croaking in the reeds


Aware he is dying

the old man decides

to gather his scribblings


Something is going to happen

I don't know what

the end of me is death


The hand that gripped the wheel

now hangs limp

thwarted by a pot of jam


Who will be home for Christmas?

children and grandchildren

will I still be here?


This is how it ends

I creep away from the feast

muttering apologies


Bill Smith is a political scientist and social policy administrator from Belfast. During Northern Ireland’s Troubles he worked for the Health Department supporting voluntary action and community development. Most of his previous writing has been in academic or mandarin-speak. Recently 70, he celebrates this as his first published poem.

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