Ted Hughes — The Lovepet

Was it an animal was it a bird? She stroked it. He spoke to it softly. She made her voice its happy forest. He brought it out with sugarlump smiles. Soon it was licking their kisses. She gave it the strings of her voice which it swallowed He gave it the blood of his face it grew eager She gave it the liquorice of her mouth it began to thrive He opened the aniseed of his future And it bit and gulped, grew vicious, snatched The focus of his eyes She gave it the steadiness of her hand He gave it the strength of his spine it ate everything It began to cry what could they give it They gave it their calendars it bolted their diaries They gave it their sleep it gobbled their dreams Even while they slept It ate their bodyskin and the muscle beneath They gave it vows its teeth clashed its starvation Through every word they uttered It found snakes under the floor it ate them It found a spider horror In their palms and ate it They gave it double smiles and blank silence It chewed holes in their carpets They gave it logic It ate the colour of their hair They gave it every argument that would come They gave it shouting and yelling they meant it It ate the faces of their children They gave it their photograph albums they gave it their records It ate the colour of the sun They gave it a thousand letters they gave it money It ate their future complete it waited for them Staring and starving They gave it screams it had gone too far It ate into their brains It ate the roof It ate lonely stone it ate wind crying famine It went furiously off They wept they called it back it could have everything It stripped out their nerves chewed chewed flavourless It bit at their numb bodies they did not resist It bit into their blank brains they hardly knew It moved bellowing Through a ruin of starlight and crockery It drew slowly off they could not move It went far away they could not speak