Ted Hughes. Ship
Stay away from the ship, stay away. Or let
comes only a shower. And then on tiptoe.
Auburn legs in cellophane.
do not add no fear, no fingers.
Forget about the mouth and lungs, otherwise you will understand what I mean.
exiled thee on a journey into the kingdom
larvae.
Stay away from the ship.
It is a prison. Prisoners in chains
with galaxies and snowflakes await sentencing.
No breath is not audible, nor a tear in sight.
And if you do you shout, the cry will go down your
evidence against you, and overboard
fly your belongings and pictures.
So stay away from the ship -
This ship of death. With cargo and crew
- invisible demons,
who have no other hooks to your hopes,
In cancer cells, or a claw in your kidneys -
Gang master, bored and brutal
In endless wanderings between the light of the fact.
Here sinelikaya charming old lady,
as if descended from a poster on the Asiatic dysentery.
She waved her hands, shrunken to the sheep's legs.
Argues personally with the Angel of Death.
He had already begun to gnaw its eagerly
under blankets, listening to all of her speech
and not interrupting.
Do not bother to lift the blanket.
Look at these person with neat haircuts,
silently who are looking to pillows: they look through the General Discussion
The visitors, like the picture of the framework.
This spaceship collapsed from another dimension
in our vale of stone and iron
time and the dead from the shock of words.
For this ship crippled,
and cries, too high for the ear,
leave you speechless with astonishment,
evaporate your prayers as the sun coming up close.
So let the mind surrenders, just staring dully
In his eyes, that is not the eyes, but only a hole in which
There is only blood and bacteria.
and leave the ship, go away,
last load of errors is going to move on -
The latest wave of casualties
Illuminates your path to a toothbrush.
So come back. Otherwise
Under your last howl you utyanet out of the bag of nerves
In Paradise crew.
Ted Hughes. The Ship
Keep your foot off this ship, keep your foot off it.
Or come in your soul only. And only on tiptoe.
Wrap your feet in polythene.
Don't bring your fear or your fingers.
Leave your mouth and your lungs or you'll know what I mean.
You'll be pressganged for the voyage
To the kingdom of Maggot.
Keep your foot well off this ship.
It's a prison hulk. The prisoners are in irons
With galaxies and snowflakes, waiting for the verdict.
Not a sigh can be heard, not a tear noticed.
And if you scream then that goes down
As evidence against you and overboard
Go your clothes and your snapshots.
So keep your foot right off this ship –
It is the ship of death. It has its cargo
And its crew – which are invisible devils
With no other hooks or holds on your hopes
But a cancer, or their claws in your kidneys –
The owner's gang, bored and become monstrous
On their endless to and fro between here and the otherworld.
Here is the dear old lady with the bluefaced skull
She looks like some latest propaganda for Asiatic dysentery.
She waves her arms shrunk to the shanks of a sheep.
She's arguing with the Angel of Death in person.
He has already impatiently started to eat her
Under the blankets listening to all that she says
Without interrupting.
Don't bother lifting the blanket.
Regard these faces under their careful hair,
Staring speechless off their pillows they stare through their chatter
At their visitors propped like pictures.
It's a space-ship, crashed from some other dimension
Into this one of stone, time and iron
And words dead of shock.
For this is the gallant ship of mutilations
And cries too huge for the ear
That leave your amazement just numb
And evaporate your prayers like a too-near and oncoming sun.
So just let your brain give up and stare back empty
At eyes that are simply raw holes and full
Of nothing but blood and bacteria.
Then get off this ship, get off it
The latest cargo of mistakes is about to move away -
The latest purge of the luckless
Lightens you to go back to cleaning your teeth.
So go back.
Or be dragged back from your bag of nerves, beyond your last howls
Into the Paradise of the crew.
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