Thomas Aquinas Commentary Lamentations 4:8

"Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick." — Lamentations 4:8 (ASV)

Here he presents the disfigurement that followed their hunger. Regarding their change of color, their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known on account of their disfigurement; and regarding the drying out of their fatness, their skin has stuck to their bones. The faces of them all are as the blackness of a kettle. Where is now the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions (Nahum 2:10–11). My skin is withered and drawn together (Job 7:5).