It was raining,
I stood under the overhang
of a ‘Charity Begins At Home’
shop window.
Watching a young girl,
who couldn’t be older
than 16, 17 or 18.
She had a black-eye,
and a manky
bandaged left wrist.
I’d previously seen her
sleeping on park benches,
also on top of cardboard
under one of the subways.
Reach her good hand
into a litter bin
and pull out
a crushed KFC box,
retrieve a half-eaten
chicken drumstick from inside,
smile in an almost
tearful happiness…
before an urban herring gull
drifted in fast, sideways,
and snatched it, expertly,
out of her shaking hand.