any disease that shows unpleasantly on the skin through boils ulcers rashes and desiccation / call it leprosy / such is the condition of popular belief / if not official pronouncement / hey Fishface! / volley of thrown stones / out in the hills roaming the outer countryside Fishface joins a band of fellow lepers / hi i’m Francis / bugger me before it falls off / grunts in the hedgerow / miraculously the scabs and blisters shed to reveal tender wonderfully pink new skin / glimpsed among the tatters of a grimy ragged costume / fresh new hand breaking out as it grips a fold of rough cloth