Downstream

the source? I head down the
hill and wade in shin-high
water through a gate, the
beige clay giving way
beneath me like quicksand.
By the time I see the Thames
Head stone in the distance my
legs are sodden from the
knees down and my partner is
muttering ‘this is the most
stupid thing you’ve ever
asked me to do’.
In front of me the grass is a
luminous green, the