Mrs. Gandhi Carol Ann Duffy

Mrs. Gandhi

There he is,
giving attention to everyone else but his wife, that jerk.
There he marches,
Four hundred kilometers,
Twenty four days,
With a battalion--
All for the sake of some salt.

There he walks,
Side by side with seventy eight people and more--
Not with his one and only,
His one and only wife.

For a handful of salt,
Which lead to an impetus of independence,
and joy to many Indians,
A sickly Ba,
was left with feelings of loneliness, isolation, and rejection.

The clothing he wears--
Simple yet clean;
The humble kapada
hanging from his torso
he’d asked for me to collect.