Introduced by Ted Hughes The Gatekeeper
(Death's Doorway Guard)
A sphinx.
A two-headed questioner. First, a question.
The simple fork in the road.
Then an answer. So this is what I am, finally.
Finally horror.
Everything has come back.
And a wingspread
Nails you with its claws. And an eagle
Is flying
To drop you into a bog or carry you to eagles.
This sequence of poems originating in a collaboration with Leonard Baskin is Ted Hughes 's first major work since the publication of Crow in 1970. In tonight's programme, the poems have been orchestrated by the author for four voices, in accordance with their first hearing at the Ilkley Festival, Readers HARVEY HALL FRANCES HOROVITZ
PETER MARINKER. GARY WATSON Producer GEORGE MACBETH