Giles Watson's poetry and prose
The Bucket
The Bucket
There is no kicking it: it takes some craftsmanship
to make it watertight – to tongue-and-groove
those strips of yew, screw them all together
with copper bands, and the iron handle is worth
more than some men’s lives – so we only bury it
with those who could afford it. Most people
make do with an unglazed pot, a hollowed scoop
of oak, a cupped pair of hands – or drink straight
from the stream; they are resourceful enough
to find water in the next world by themselves.
Dig it in deep with Aethelwold: he’ll need it.
He never lifted cup to lip without assistance,
still less fetched it and lugged it a mile, slopping
at the brim. Who knows? It may be a different
matter, on the other side, now his heart has given
out.
Poem by Giles Watson, 2012. Buckets are rare in the archaeological record, suggesting that they were luxury items, and they are only ever found in well-equipped graves. It seems likely that they were status symbols. Only the metal parts survive in this specimen from the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage, along with enough traces of the mineralised wood for us to be confident that the bucket was made of wood from a yew tree.
The Bucket
The Bucket
There is no kicking it: it takes some craftsmanship
to make it watertight – to tongue-and-groove
those strips of yew, screw them all together
with copper bands, and the iron handle is worth
more than some men’s lives – so we only bury it
with those who could afford it. Most people
make do with an unglazed pot, a hollowed scoop
of oak, a cupped pair of hands – or drink straight
from the stream; they are resourceful enough
to find water in the next world by themselves.
Dig it in deep with Aethelwold: he’ll need it.
He never lifted cup to lip without assistance,
still less fetched it and lugged it a mile, slopping
at the brim. Who knows? It may be a different
matter, on the other side, now his heart has given
out.
Poem by Giles Watson, 2012. Buckets are rare in the archaeological record, suggesting that they were luxury items, and they are only ever found in well-equipped graves. It seems likely that they were status symbols. Only the metal parts survive in this specimen from the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage, along with enough traces of the mineralised wood for us to be confident that the bucket was made of wood from a yew tree.