Old Age Gets Up

Ted Hughes

 Next Poem          

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, for eyes to lean on

Supporting the body, shaped to its old work
Making small movements in gray air
Numbed from the blurred accident
Of having lived, the fatal, real injury
Under the amnesia

Something tries to save itself-searches
For defenses-but words evade
Like flies with their own notions

Old age slowly gets dressed
Heavily dosed with death's night
Sits on the bed's edge

Pulls its pieces together
Loosely tucks in its shirt

Next Poem 

 Back to Ted Hughes
Get a free collection of Classic Poetry ↓

Receive the ebook in seconds 50 poems from 50 different authors


To be able to leave a comment here you must be registered. Log in or Sign up.

Comments1
  • JeroldWZKQ

    Just read "Old Age Gets Up" again, after a long time. Love it in my teens, but man, it's moved me even more now - the rawness of aging is laid bare in such a poignant way. Beautiful anf tragic at the same time, it reminds us that growing old is unavoidable for all of us!