Ted Hughes's "Pike"
Ted Hughes's "Pike"
Dead are the ones who can make me feel.
I troll their work, desperate for a bite, but
They’re so far down. Not sullen, just content
Not to take all that I have to offer —
My readership, the boat in which I float.
Maybe the shadow gives them some pleasure
For by it they know that somewhere up there
Is a fish hook shaped like a question mark,
A question no one can make them answer.