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Food for the soul from Alexander McCall Smith

“A small amount of help makes a few yards of an otherwise awfully long mile.”

Alexander McCall Smith, author and poet

Alexander McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE is a professor of medicine, a prolific writer – and a long-time friend of 500 miles.

Known best for his heart-warming novels, Sandy has just published his first volume of poetry called In a Time of Distance – https://www.alexandermccallsmith.co.uk/?s=in+a+time+of+distance – and his contribution to our recipes and tips for the BIG dinner 2 is a poem about 500 miles.  You might say “food for the soul”!

A poem for 500 Miles

There are some things, some instances

Of particular suffering about which

There is little that can be done:

The pain of the world will never

Entirely disappear, fervently though

We may hope for that to happen;

And then there are those situations

Where a little can do a great deal

To transform an individual life:

The gift of mobility is something

We can accomplish rather easily:

A small amount of help makes a few yards

Of an otherwise awfully long mile:

What greater gift to anyone can there be

Than a limb? What greater joy

Can a few well-aimed pounds

Bring about? Look at the faces

Of those they’ve helped – there’s your answer.

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