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Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes was a prominent English poet, translator, and children's writer, celebrated for his powerful and visceral depictions of the natural world and its raw, primal forces. His poetry is characterized by its intensity, rugged language, and exploration of myth, the animal kingdom, and the darker aspects of human nature. Hughes's work often draws upon mythologies and folk traditions, imbuing his verse with a profound sense of elemental power and ancient wisdom.
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Crow's Nerve Fails
Crow's Nerve Fails
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 he the archive of their accusations?
Or their ghostly purpose, their pining vengeance?
Or their unforgiven prisoner?
He cannot be forgiven.
His prison is the earth. Clothed in his conviction,
Trying to remember his crimes
Heavily he flies.
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 he the archive of their accusations?
Or their ghostly purpose, their pining vengeance?
Or their unforgiven prisoner?
He cannot be forgiven.
His prison is the earth. Clothed in his conviction,
Trying to remember his crimes
Heavily he flies.
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