THE PLUMBING

Charles the consultant, specialising in the diseases of the seriously wealthy,

Sees something untoward to do with the circulation,

A new resistance in the always complicated but hitherto healthy

System of arterial retrieval and distribution

Down in the dark and difficult gaps and barely get-attable junctures.

The cruel bathroom mirror returns his metaphysical pain,

Observes him consider analogies derived from the lumber puncture,

Then sees him relate to the basin water slowly circling the drain.

Barry, professor of pipes and pressure, Barry, physician of flux,

Pulls the air through  clenching teeth as professional plumbers are said to,                                                                                       

Gives his candid prognosis - six more months or one year max,

Reckons the short-term solution lies in the blockages being bled,

Calculates a replacement will see the plump consultant out -

Incontinence’s consequences claiming us all at the last -

Eyes him and sizes him and knows too well to doubt

The reassuringly weak physique of the spreading middle class.