Doris Lessing Poem by Michael Shepherd

I've just been looking at the photo
for longer than I've looked at, into,
a photo for a long time, as if
hoping that in some way
it would add to my humanity,

of Doris Lessing, Nobel prize-winner
at the age of 88;

looking like a benevolent
lady ape looking at you and me and
considering the nature of the human species
she's hoping to evolve into

which may or may not include you and me as we are
but she still looks benevolently at us,
as apes, disconcertingly, do; briefly;
leaving a question in the air
which perhaps words will evolve towards.