True Vitality

(entered in the Africa competition)  
 
In the mid-seventies, on board a flight  
From Tanga to Dar es Salaam, the seat  
Next to me was taken by a woman  
With baby. She was dressed unsuitably  
In tweed, most probably for the first time.  
 
She tugged repeatedly at her thick skirt  
Though it quite fully covered her knees.  
I wondered whether I should promise  
I would not look- then thought better of it.  
 
The plane took off. The woman, on my side,  
Pulled out her breast and then fed her baby.  
Shamefaced, I reflected what little worth  
Our wazungu codes of decorum have  
In face of such natural life-giving.  
 
wazungu= in Kiswahili, at first European colonists; later those of European origin from all continents