The Look
I’m thinking of the look a woman gave
as the mudslide rushed towards her
and she turned her face
upwards and threw
her baby
clear.
I’m thinking what the last person
who saw her saw in her face.
No photo fixes it.
No artist had time
to paint that look.
Rescuers would comment
not on the look –
gone down
under the rearranged earth.
They spoke of a gesture:
all they could say was
she ‘seemed like she was
lifting something’.