Ted Hughes — When Men Got to the Summit

Light words forsook them. They filled with heavy silence. Houses came to support them, But the hard, foursquare scriptures fractured And the cracks filled with soft rheumatism. Streets bent to the task Of holding it all up Bracing themselves, taking the strain Till their vertebrae slipped. The hills went on gently Shaking their sieve. Nevertheless, for some giddy moments A television Blinked from the wolf's lookout.