Skylarks Ted Hughes

I
The lark begins to go up
Like a warning
As if the globe were uneasy –
Barrel-chested for heights
Like an Indian of the high Andes,
A whippet head, barbed like a hunting arrow,
But leaden
With muscle
For the struggle
Against
Earth’s centre
And leaden
For ballast
In the rocketing storms of the breath.
Leaden
Like a bullet
To supplant
Life from its centre.

II
Crueller than owl or eagle
A towered bird, shot through the crested head
With the command,
Not die
But climb
Climb
Sing
Obedient as to death a dead thing.