Gaudete (20 page)
Authors: Ted Hughes
Your tree – your oak
A glare
Of black upward lightning, a wriggling grab
Momentary
Under the crumbling of stars.
A guard, a dancer
At the pure well of leaf.
Agony in the garden. Annunciation
Of clay, water and the sunlight.
They thunder under its roof.
Its agony is its temple.
Waist-deep, the black oak is dancing
And my eyes pause
On the centuries of its instant
As gnats
Try to winter in its wrinkles.
The seas are thirsting
Towards the oak.
The oak is flying
Astride the earth.
Glare out of just crumpled grass –
Blinded, I blink.
Glare out of muddled clouds –
I go in.
Clare out of house-gloom –
I close my eyes.
And the darkness too is aflame.
So you have come and gone again
With my skin.
Ted Hughes (1930-1998) was born in Yorkshire. His first book,
The Hawk in the Rain
, was published in 1957 by Faber and Faber and was followed by many volumes of poetry and prose for adults and children. He received the Whitbread Book of the Year for two consecutive years for his last published collections of poetry,
Tales from Ovid
(1997) and
Birthday Letters
(1998). He was Poet Laureate from 1984, and in 1998 he was appointed to the Order of Merit.
This ebook edition published in 2010
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
All rights reserved
© Ted Hughes, 1977
The right of Ted Hughes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–26298–4