Then, like a christening gift or a wish arriving
Later in life, the woman had height, grew tall
Was taller daily
Day one saw her rising at 8 foot
Bigger than any man. She knelt in the shower
As if she were praying for rain. Her clothes
Would be curtains and eiderdowns, towels and rugs
Out. Eye-high with street lamps, she took a walk
Downtown. Somebody whooped. She stooped
Hands on both knees
And stared at his scared face
The red heart tattooed on his small chest. He turned
And fled like a boy
On. A tree dangled an apple
At bite-height. She bit it. A traffic-light stuttered
On red, went out. She lit it. Personal birds
Sang on her ears. She whistled
Further. Taller
As she went, she glanced into upper windows
In passing, saw lovers in the rented rooms
Over shops, saw an old man long dead in a chair
Paused there, her breath on the glass
She bowed herself into a bar, ordered a stiff drink
It came on the rocks, on the house. A drunk
Passed out or fainted. She pulled up a stool, sat
At the bar with her knees
Under her chin, called
For another gin, a large one. She saw a face, high
In the mirror behind the top shelf. Herself
Day two, she was hungover, all over, her head
In her hands in the hall, her feet at the top
Of the stairs, more tall
She needed a turret
Found one, day three, on the edge of town, moved in
Her head in the clouds now, showering in rain
But pilgrims came –
Small women with questions and worries, men
On stilts. She was 30 foot, growing, could see for miles
So day six, she upped sticks, horizon-bound
In seven-league boots. Local crowds swarmed
Round her feet, chanting
She cured no one. Grew
The moon came closer at night, its scarred face
An old mirror. She slept outdoors, stretched
Across empty fields or sand
The stars trembled. Taller
Was colder, aloner, no wiser. What could she see
Up there? She told them what kind of weather
Was heading their way –
Dust storms over the Pyramids
Hurricanes over the USA, floods in the UK –
But by now the people were tiny
And far away, and she
Was taller then Jupiter, Saturn, the Milky Way. Nothing
To see. She looked back and howled
She stooped low
And caught their souls in her hands as they fell
From the burning towers
Other Carol Ann Duffy songs:
all Carol Ann Duffy songs all songs from 1999