107 Quotes by Ted Hughes

To hatch a crow, a black rainbowBent in emptinessover emptinessBut flying

So we found the end of our journey.So we stood, alive in the river of light,Among the creatures of light, creatures of light.

Even the most misfitting childWho's chanced upon the library's worth,Sits with the genius of the EarthAnd turns the key to the whole world.--"Hear It Again

Wadsworth MoorWhere the millstone of skyGrinds light and shadow so purple-fineAnd has ground it so longGrinding the skin off the earthEarth bleeds her raw true darknessA land naked now as a woundThat the sun swabs and dabsWhere the miles of agony are numbnessAnd harebell and heather a euphoria

The dreamer in herHad fallen in love with me and she did not know it.That moment the dreamer in meFell in love with her and I knew it

It was a saying about noble figures in old Irish poems—he would give his hawk to any man that asked for it, yet he loved his hawk better than men nowadays love their bride of tomorrow. He would mourn a dog with more grief than men nowadays mourn their fathers.

Black was the without eyeBlack the within tongueBlack was the heartBlack the liver, black the lungsUnable to suck in lightBlack the blood in its loud tunnelBlack the bowels packed in furnaceBlack too the musclesStriving to pull out into the lightBlack the nerves, black the brainWith its tombed visionsBlack also the soul, the huge stammerOf the cry that, swelling, could notPronounce its sun.

In my position, the right witchdoctorMight have caught you in flight with his bare hands,Tossed you, cooling, one hand to the other,Godless, happy, quieted.I managedA wisp of your hair, your ring, your watch, your nightgown.

But inside your sob-sodden KleenexAnd your Saturday night panics,Under your hair done this way and that way,Behind what looked like reboundsAnd the cascade of cries diminuendo,You were undeflected.You were gold-jacketed, solid silver,Nickel-tipped. Trajectory perfectAs through ether.