Day 15 - Expert Witness

I wonder, are our bodies sturdy
or are they boxes of crystalware?

On the one hand, Dr. Fegan-Earl,
standing in the witness box, places
his own fist lightly against his cheek.
"A sudden rotation of the head or neck,"
he says, twisting in slow motion,
as in a boxer movie,
"could cause such an injury."

He is talking about a sub-arachnoid haemmorrhage.
Bleeding in the hind-brain
He describes the collapse occurring
in "butterfew seconds."

Then Dr. Fegan-Earl talks about bruising.
There is a code.
Red/violet is fresh.
Green to rape-yellow is a few days old.
Last comes brown.

Dr. Fegan-Earl is a slight man.
He does not smile. He repeats the phrase,
"I have never encountered such a mechanism
from a fall."

When he holds up the model of a human spine
like a snake by its head, he keeps it still.
Only as he puts it down again
do the false bones rattle like wind-chimes
when a door is closed.

On the other hand, Lord G
slams fist into palm like an action hero,
queries "the water hammer effect"
with relish, and emphasises 'RICK'
in "one might rick one's neck."

He is pushing seventy. His body
has no doubt come through barrels of whisky,
hurricanes of love-making,
jazz clubs of tumbles,
closing speeches enough to fill a theatre season.

Dr. Fegan-Earl clears his throat
and puts his hands behind his back.
"I have never encountered - in ten years
such a mechanism."