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Jane Holland

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The daughter

watches Umbra with dislike.
She has come to supersede me.
She looks at her father.

A door, somewhere deep in the house, is being thrown open.
A door that has been locked for as long as she can remember.

He looks back at her over the teacup.
He is not looking at me, Stella thinks.
He is looking through me.

The sharp stench of death recoils.
She clenches her jaw, still watching her father.
Her eyes narrow and flatten to yellow slits:

you, tiger-carver, oak-grower,
breath in the face, fox in the night,
you, sliver of silver, the wound

that works inwards, peacock feather,
one gold eye of the daisy, sun god,
stone ship, Lindworm, shining water:

Green Man, moon shield, bright lover,
whistling falconer, seed on the wing,
trout-poacher, shade-caller, outcrop

on the battered moors, the mistletoe,
salt sea, mainspring, saboteur,
hoofprint, hot forge, death's head:

feast day, firefly, river raft,
laurel wreath, love knot, driftwood-dress,
Launcelot, thirty pieces, weaver's red,

skin-slough, bull's eye, reptile house,
fierce flame, kayak-stitcher, ice-water,
life force, floodpath, side-spur, far father.

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