Emma obeys her father

1.
my name is Yggdrasil
nine worlds grow from me
like fruit

runes hang in my branches
the underworld
is my root

I am also the serpent
Nidhogg, gnawing
upon myself

draw water from the well, norn
pour it over me
that my branches may not rot

2.
Emma is fifteen this summer
she thinks the student Ivar
is beautiful

declaiming under the ash
with his shaggy hair
and river-wet skin

Ivar’s silver eyes
are moon-lure, his voice
honey of ash sap

there are rings and widening rings
in Emma’s rabbit eyes
her bare feet step forward, her hands
reach out

3.
Emma! her father’s bellow
sounds through the hedgerow
his ash cane thumps the ground
she is late

and Emma surprises her father
she runs at him from the meadow
like bolting prey, like Peter Rabbit
pelting home