Ted Hughes

Bride and Groom Lie Hidden for Three Days

She gives him his eyes, she found them
Among some rubble, among some beetles
 
He gives her her skin
He just seemed to pull it down out of the air and lay it over her
She weeps with fearfulness and astonishment
 
She has found his hands for him, and fitted them freshly at the wrists
They are amazed at themselves, they go feeling all over her
 
He has assembled her spine, he cleaned each piece carefully
And sets them in perfect order
A superhuman puzzle but he is inspired
She leans back twisting this way and that, using it and laughing
Incredulous
 
Now she has brought his feet, she is connecting them
So that his whole body lights up
 
And he has fashioned her new hips
With all fittings complete and with newly wound coils, all shiningly oiled
He is polishing every part, he himself can hardly believe it
 
They keep taking each other to the sun, they find they can easily
To test each new thing at each new step
 
And now she smoothes over him the plates of his skull
So that the joints are invisible
 
And now he connects her throat, her breasts and the pit of her stomach
With a single wire
 
She gives him his teeth, tying the the roots to the centrepin of his body
 
He sets the little circlets on her fingertips
 
She stiches his body here and there with steely purple silk
 
He oils the delicate cogs of her mouth
 
She inlays with deep cut scrolls the nape of his neck
 
He sinks into place the inside of her thighs
 
So, gasping with joy, with cries of wonderment
Like two gods of mud
Sprawling in the dirt, but with infinite care
They bring each other to perfection.
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