Polishing Silver

[Bronte]

Hi, just a few thoughts on the fly:

"had sunk" sounds like quite a slow process... I'd like to see this image achieved in a more dynamic way.

I find that last line very melodramatic and I'm not at all sure what to suggest, but I think it cheapens the rest of what is quite an excellent stanza.

Sorry I'm not very helpful at the moment, Geoff

I agree with you, it is the word blood; that seems cheap and in your face, so becomes unreliable for a reader

the image that struck me was the serving spoon! I like the image that places all the kids as subordinate . Maybe if this image is extended—
Something like this

hands blackened in iron servitude.