Thrushes by Ted Hughes

Thrushes by Ted Hughes Terrifying are the attent sleek thrushes on the lawn, More coiled steel than living; a poised Dark deadly eye, those delicate legs Triggered to stirrings beyond sense; with a start, a bounce, a stab Overtake the instant and drag out some writhing thing. No indolent procrastinations and no yawning states, No […]

Thistles by Ted Hughes

Thistles by Ted Hughes Against the rubber tongues of cows and the hoeing hands of men Thistles spike the summer air And crackle open under a blue-black pressure. Every one a revengeful burst Of resurrection, a grasphed fistful Of splintered weapons and Icelandic frost thrust up From the underground stain of a decayed Viking. They […]

The Warm and the Cold by Ted Hughes

The Warm and the Cold by Ted Hughes Freezing dusk is closing Like a slow trap of steel On trees and roads and hills and all That can no longer feel. But the carp is in its depth Like a planet in its heaven. And the badger in its bedding Like a loaf in the […]

The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes

The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes I imagine this midnight moment’s forest: Something else is alive Beside the clock’s loneliness And this blank page where my fingers move. Through the window I see no star: Something more near Though deeper within darkness Is entering the loneliness: Cold, delicately as the dark snow, A fox’s nose touches […]

The Owl by Ted Hughes

The Owl by Ted Hughes I saw my world again through your eyes As I would see it again through your children’s eyes. Through your eyes it was foreign. Plain hedge hawthorns were peculiar aliens, A mystery of peculiar lore and doings. Anything wild, on legs, in your eyes Emerged at a point of exclamation […]

The Minotaur by Ted Hughes

The Minotaur by Ted Hughes The mahogany table-top you smashed Had been the broad plank top Of my mother’s heirloom sideboard- Mapped with the scars of my whole life. That came under the hammer. That high stool you swung that day Demented by my being Twenty minutes late for baby-minding. ‘Marvellous!’ I shouted, ‘Go on, […]

The Harvest Moon by Ted Hughes

The Harvest Moon by Ted Hughes The flame-red moon, the harvest moon, Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing, A vast balloon, Till it takes off, and sinks upward To lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon. The harvest moon has come, Booming softly through heaven, like a bassoon. And the earth […]

The Child Is Father To The Man by Ted Hughes

The Child Is Father To The Man by Ted Hughes ‘The child is father to the man.’ How can he be? The words are wild. Suck any sense from that who can: ‘The child is father to the man.’ No; what the poet did write ran, ‘The man is father to the child.’ ‘The child […]

Spring & Fall: To A Young Child by Ted Hughes

Spring & Fall: To A Young Child by Ted Hughes Margaret, are you grieving Over Goldengrove unleaving? Leaves, like the things of man, you With your fresh thoughts care for, can you? Ah! as the heart grows older It will come to such sights colder By & by, nor spare a sigh Though worlds of […]

Pied Beauty by Ted Hughes

Pied Beauty by Ted Hughes Glory be to God for dappled things— For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings; Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim. All things counter, original, spare, strange; […]

Old Age Gets Up by Ted Hughes

Old Age Gets Up by Ted Hughes Stirs its ashes and embers, its burnt sticks An eye powdered over, half melted and solid again Ponders Ideas that collapse At the first touch of attention The light at the window, so square and so same So full-strong as ever, the window frame A scaffold in space, […]

Lineage by Ted Hughes

Lineage by Ted Hughes In the beginning was Scream Who begat Blood Who begat Eye Who begat Fear Who begat Wing Who begat Bone Who begat Granite Who begat Violet Who begat Guitar Who begat Sweat Who begat Adam Who begat Mary Who begat God Who begat Nothing Who begat Never Never Never Never Who […]

How To Paint A Water Lily by Ted Hughes

How To Paint A Water Lily by Ted Hughes To Paint a Water Lily A green level of lily leaves Roofs the pond’s chamber and paves The flies’ furious arena: study These, the two minds of this lady. First observe the air’s dragonfly That eats meat, that bullets by Or stands in space to take […]

Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes

Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream Between my hooked head and hooked feet: Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. The convenience of the high trees! The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray Are of advantage to me; And the […]

God’s Grandeur by Ted Hughes

God’s Grandeur by Ted Hughes The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with […]

Full Moon and Little Frieda by Ted Hughes

Full Moon and Little Frieda by Ted Hughes A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket – And you listening. A spider’s web, tense for the dew’s touch. A pail lifted, still and brimming; mirror To tempt a first star to a tremor. Cows are going home in […]

Earth-Moon by Ted Hughes

Earth-Moon by Ted Hughes Once upon a time there was a person He was walking along He met the full burning moon Rolling slowly twoards him Crushing the stones and houses by the wayside. She shut his eyes from the glare. He drew his dagger And stabbed and stabbed and stabbed. The cry that quit […]

Crow’s Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes

Crow’s Nerve Fails by Ted Hughes Crow, feeling his brain slip, Finds his every feather the fossil of a murder. Who murdered all these? These living dead, that root in his nerves and his blood Till he is visibly black? How can he fly from his feathers? And why have they homed on him? Is […]

Crow’s Fall by Ted Hughes

Crow’s Fall by Ted Hughes When Crow was white he decided the sun was too white. He decided it glared much too whitely. He decided to attack it and defeat it. He got his strength up flush and in full glitter. He clawed and fluffed his rage up. He aimed his beak direct at the […]

Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days by Ted Hughes

Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days by Ted Hughes 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 […]

Weak by Tanisha Avarsekar

I think my memories are starting to wrinkle, Bonds seem to have started to shrivel. My energy to duel with reality is slowly depleting. But until this battle is over, I don’t think I’ll be leaving. The future is fogged up, The past turning pale. Not sure where I’m standing anymore. Not sure where to […]

The battle of fire by Tanisha Avarsekar

The battle of fire, rages on and on. Turning all black. Turning all hard. No difference does it make of the arrival of dawn. However affected the outside world is barred. Fiercely ablaze, everything here is equal. There is no difference, between the next sequel. You fight back, and the fire will rebel. A little […]

Taketh away by Tanisha Avarsekar

When what was there now is gone. When now it’s dusk, but what I’d seen was dawn. When what I’d embraced, now is mist. When I held a hand, but found an empty fist. All is lost and it’s a lonely day. ‘Cos what the Lord giveth, he taketh away. ————— The End And that’s […]

So tired by Tanisha Avarsekar

Sometimes, I get tired of never being able to forgive myself. Tired of being forced to repeat my mistakes. Sometimes, I get tired of being misunderstood. Tired of choosing to battle alone. Sometimes, I get tired of having to be who I’m not. Tired of lying to myself. Sometimes, I get tired of having to […]

Silent consolation by Tanisha Avarsekar

When I sit alone in the quiet of the night, Knowing that I’m all alone. Surrounded by what has generously been showered on me, Nothing that I’m worth. The silence of midnight comes to offer consolation, With a gentle breeze and a rush of strength. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster

Life a chess game by Tanisha Avarsekar

Life is like a chess game. Every move you make is challenged. The slightest of your mistakes is avenged. The entire game lies on your choices. It is hard to keep a count of your losses. To get something you have to give up something else. And what you get is always compared to what […]

Late realizations by Tanisha Avarsekar

Failed at every part. Failed at every stage. With the dark ink of past fears, ruined every fresh page. Permitted myself to drown in the ocean of my tears. Let my future by others be steered. Walked stamping on all the new leaves, I had once turned. And realized my mistakes, only after it all […]

Halo by Tanisha Avarsekar

Have a clean conscience, As white as can be. Pure and transparent, Not a speck of negativity. Not a bout of guilt, or a drop of grief, All your thoughts, a little more deep. And then you’ll see a halo… Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster

Everything ends by Tanisha Avarsekar

Flames will turn to ash, Feelings will be abashed. Thrills will come to an end, Rules are meant to be bent. Money will not forever survive, We will be bored of everything that we’ve tried. It will rain on a sunny day, The sea will rise and wash the glee away. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster

Damned by Tanisha Avarsekar

The burden I carry, I shouldn’t be. Just one question… I don’t deserve it. Why me? Forced to trust and smile. Forced to cherish that I’m alive. Punish myself harder, but not the guilt. The land is there, but never the silt. ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. […]

Compromising my ego by Tanisha Avarsekar

Only for the sake of victory, am I taking this. Otherwise I would’ve long showed you your place. I’m not afraid to disrupt your pride. My obedience to your wishes is only because I have been taught to respect. Don’t cross the line with me. You won’t win the fight with my fury. Remember, you […]

Both ways I lose by Tanisha Avarsekar

When you jog, I’ll run. And when you run, I’ll sprint. When you win, I’ll lose. But when you lose, I still won’t win. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster

Blue flower by Tanisha Avarsekar

Just when life was starting to bloom, Karma came and turned it to gloom. With only anguish the plant was fed, It had a beautiful blue flower, Now all its petals are dead. Their colors lost in my memory. Copyright ©:  2011 Tanisha Avarsekar ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry […]

Blue eyes by Tanisha Avarsekar

Those blue eyes, they tell a story, Of far beyond and life not merely. Their mysterious coldness too has a reason. Sometime ago, they too had freedom. Now they just beg to be heard. Loss of glory once occurred. They just want another chance. Another look or another glance. ————— The End And that’s the […]

Be there for me by Tanisha Avarsekar

When it finally happens, I expect you to be there for me. I may not have enough energy then to be able to ask… But stand by me, and tell me what’s right. Be my courage, and make me fight. Make sure I survive that ugly phase. ‘Cause I may not even want to live […]

To the author(s) of Manimekalai by T. Wignesan

“Apart from its popular conception of transmigration, (which is) sometimes almost humouristic, Manimekhalai offers a documentary contribution of immense value, under an easily accessible form, on the philosophical speculations of Ancient India. The cosmology of Sankya, the scientism of Vaisheshika, the logic of Nyaya, the materialism of Lokayata, originally related to the Ajivika tradition, (all […]

Plaidoirie for a “Prince” of Jaffna by T. Wignesan

“We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.” George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Nobel Prize by T. Wignesan Blue blood gushes when heroes die From gory wounds on battlefields Not in castle intrigues when for a lie Crowns use commoners as shields. A royal house does not construct itself After centuries have broken tradition […]

Whispers of Immortality by T. S. Eliot

WEBSTER was much possessed by death And saw the skull beneath the skin; And breastless creatures under ground Leaned backward with a lipless grin. Daffodil bulbs instead of balls Stared from the sockets of the eyes! He knew that thought clings round dead limbs Tightening its lusts and luxuries. Donne, I suppose, was such another […]