by Elisabeth Rees

You dropped your watch in the pool and it sprung

Out glistering like a gem; the dog’s fur

Touched the river and uncle damned the young

Because it meant he couldn’t fish; then when her

Hat blew away, Grandmother shouted for

Julia, who, under the portico,

Chipped her tooth. Reciting from the tower,

Your brother silently mimed: you said ‘Throw

Your voice!’ And dancing under the firmament

We burned our feet, but being a daughter

Was hard, and then there was the argument

When Mother laughed like ripples on the water.

And I know you never cared you missed your train,

Since it was, in the end, after the rain

Photo by Flora Molnar