Hawk Roosting (Ted Hughes, 1960)

[Intro] [Hook] [Verse] 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. [Solo] [Verse] The convenience of the high trees! The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray Are of advantage to me; And the earth's face upward for my inspection. [Solo] [Verse] My feet are locked upon the rough bark. It took the whole of Creation To produce my foot, my each feather: Now I hold Creation in my foot. [Solo] [Verse] Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly - I kill where I please because it is all mine. There is no sophistry in my body: My manners are tearing off heads - [Solo] [Verse] The allotment of death. For the one path of my flight is direct Through the bones of the living. No arguments assert my right: [Solo] [Break] [Verse] The sun is behind me. Nothing has changed since I began. My eye has permitted no change. I am going to keep things like this. [Solo] [Coda] [End] [Solo] [Coda] [End]