She gives him his eyes, she found them
Among some rubble, among some beetles
He gives her her skin
He just seemed to pull it down out of the air and lay it over her
She weeps with fearfulness and astonishment
She has found his hands for him, and fitted them freshly at the wrists
They are amazed at themselves, they go feeling all over her
He has assembled her spine, he cleaned each piece carefully
And sets them in perfect order
A superhuman puzzle but he is inspired
She leans back twisting this way and that, using it and laughing
Incredulous
Now she has brought his feet, she is connecting them
So that his whole body lights up
And he has fashioned her new hips
With all fittings complete and with newly wound coils, all shiningly oiled
He is polishing every part, he himself can hardly believe it
They keep taking each other to the sun, they find they can easily
To test each new thing at each new step
And now she smoothes over him the plates of his skull
So that the joints are invisible
And now he connects her throat, her breasts and the pit of her stomach
With a single wire
She gives him his teeth, tying the the roots to the centrepin of his body
He sets the little circlets on her fingertips
She stitches his body here and there with steely purple silk
He oils the delicate cogs of her mouth
She inlays with deep cut scrolls the nape of his neck
He sinks into place the inside of her thighs
So, gasping with joy, with cries of wonderment
Like two gods of mud
Sprawling in the dirt, but with infinite care
They bring each other to perfection.
Leave a guest comment (subject to review)
Comments
-
now that is a erotic poem....so much passion in that and WOW @ the creative wordsmithing, such imagery, such love for another individual so clearly presented and my my my the intensity of the experience he is in that sticks sticks sticks! I love this one...I think it should be read at a wedding instead of that "love is not jealous, it does not...." blahkity blah blah
-
Perfection
this poem to me is clearly about his first and really only wife, Sylvia Plath. The line about "weeping" and "astonishment" are to me classic descriptions of his first wife's passion and honesty as a lover. I think it is a wonderfully moving and clearly autobiograph ical poem about his marriage to her and demonstrates his decades long commitment to her in terms of his love and remembrance of her. -
great
I'd never read these lines by Ted Hughes - they form the wonder of creativity gasp by gasp. People seem to have forgotten that God originally meant Love, and here the creation of each other by a man and a woman - from mud to love - rediscovers the God in us all, especially since love is depicted as a step by step sexual act which is simultaneausy a discovery and a confirmation. I particularly likes his cleaning each piece of her spine carefully (which I saw as anathema to the 'breaking of the back' of the wife of a house, and her joining the plates of his skull seamlessly, so that the hemisperes are not divided. I think it is a beautiful poem which without lashing out at what divides the sexes, shows that it is only their union which can create the euphoria of wonder and pristine newness.
Adding your comment:
