Fate Playing ( by Ted hughes from “Birthday Letters” ) Because the message somehow met a goblin, Because precedents tripped your expectations, Because your London was still a kaleidoscope Of names and places any jolt could scramble, You waited mistaken. The bus from the North 5 Came in and emptied and I was not on it. No matter how much you insisted And begged the driver, probably with tears, To produce me or to remember seeing me Just miss getting on. I was not on it. 10 Eight in the evening and I was lost and at large Somewhere in England. You restrained Your confident inspiration And did not dash out into the traffic Milling around Victoria, utterly certain 15 Of bumping into me where I would have to be walking. I was not walking anywhere. I was sitting Unperturbed, in my seat on the train Rocking towards Kings Cross. Somebody, Calmer than you, had a suggestion. So, 20 When I got off the train, expecting to find you Somewhere down at the root of the platform, I saw that surge and agitation, a figure Breasting the flow of released passengers, Then your molten face, your molten eyes 25 And your exclamations, your flinging arms Your scattering tears As if I had come back from the dead Against every possibility, against Every negative but your own prayer 30 To your own Gods. There I knew what it was To be a miracle. And behind you Your jolly taxi-driver, laughing, like a small god, To see an American girl being so American, And to see your frenzied chariot-ride – 35 Sobbing and goading him, and pleading with him To make happen what you needed to happen- Succeed so completely, thanks to him. Well, it was a wonder That my train was not earlier, even much earlier, 40 That it pulled in, late, the very moment You irrupted onto the platform. It was Natural and miraculous and an omen Confirming everything You wanted confirmed. So your huge despair, 45 Your cross-London panic dash And now your triumph, splashed over me, Like love forty-nine times magnified, Like the first thunder cloudburst engulfing The drought in August 50 When the whole cracked earth seems to quake And every leaf trembles And everything holds up its arms weeping. FATE PLAYING 1 Reader Response. As you listen and read, write down how you think and feel. It is not necessary to use complete sentences. Single words may be sufficient. You don’t have to concentrate much. RELAX ! 2 In groups, pool you thoughts and feelings. A spokesperson from each group can then share these with the whole class. 3 Describe the scene in the first 15 lines. What has happened ? 4 What do you think the “suggestion” in line 20 is ? 5 In lines 15-20, how is the writer feeling? 6 “To see an American girl being so American” – Explain this phrase. 7 What does: “somehow met a goblin” mean in line 1 ? What do the following words, which refer to movement, mean? JOLT – line 4 SCRAMBLE – line 4 DASH OUT- line14 BUMPING INTO- line 16 MILLING AROUND – line 15 ROCKING – line 19 FLINGING ARMS – line26 SCATTERING TEARS – line 27 CHARIOT-RIDE – line 35 DASH – line 46 ENGULFING – line 49 TREMBLE – line 52 |
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