LUCY DOUGAN

Danny at Hathersage

Danny is two at Hathersage
when he first sees
the god in the water.
I scoop and he drinks
sweet as a poddy calf.

There should be bread
and petals here too.
I need to make arnd
unmake something around
the grace of this tableau.

Water filling and running
from the rivulet
of my lifeline. How easy it should be
to let go of this

small insistent, slurping vessel,
give him his own life in water.
There's something savage here
as I cup and uncup the colour of nothing
to his chin.