Introduction xiii
Four prose excerpts xvii
From The Hawk in the Rain (1957)
The Hawk in the Rain 3
The Jaguar 4
The Thought-Fox 5
The Horses 6
Meeting 8
From Lupercal (1960)
February 9
Esther's Tomcat 10
Hawk Roosting 11
The Bull Moses 12
View of a Pig 14
An Otter 16
Thrushes 18
Pike 19
From Recklings (1966)
Stealing Trout on a May Morning 21
The Lake 25
From Wodwo (1967)
Thistles 26
Ghost Crabs 27
Second Glance at a Jaguar 29
Song of a Rat 31
Skylarks 34
The Howling of Wolves 39
Gnat-Psalm 40
Wodwo 43
From Crow (1970)
That Moment 44
Crow and the Birds 45
Crow Tyrannosaurus 46
Two Legends 48
Lineage 49
Examination at the Womb-Door 50
Crow's Fall 51
Owl's Song 52
Crow's Elephant Totem Song 53
Littleblood 55
From Prometheus On his Crag (1973)
'Prometheus …Pestered by birds roosting and defecating' 56
'Prometheus …Began to admire the vulture' 57
Uncollected (1975)
The Lamentable History of the Human Calf 58
From Season Songs (1976)
Swifts 61
Mackerel Song 63
Work and Play 64
A Cranefly in September 66
The Stag 68
From Gaudete (1977)
'Calves harshly parted from their mamas' 70
Uncollected (1978)
A Solstice 71
From Orts (1978)
'The white shark' 78
From Cave Birds (1978)
Only a Little Sleep, a Little Slumber 79
The Owl Flower 80
The Risen 81
From Adam and the Sacred Nine (1979)
And the Falcon came 82
The Skylark came 83
The Wild Duck 84
The Swift comes the swift 85
The Unknown Wren 86
And Owl 87
The Dove Came 88
The Crow came to Adam 89
And the Phoenix has come 90
From Remains of Elmet (1979)
Curlews 91
The Weasels We Smoked out of the Bank 92
The Canal's Drowning Black 93
The Long Tunnel Ceiling 95
Cock-Crows 97
From Moortown Diary (1979)
Feeding out-wintering cattle at twilight 99
Foxhunt 101
Roe-deer 103
February 17th 104
Coming down through Somerset 106
While she chews sideways 108
Sheep 110
From Earth-Numb (1979)
The Lovepet 113
Uncollected (1980)
Mosquito 115
From A Primer of Birds (1981)
Cuckoo 116
Swans 118
Buzzard 119
Snipe 120
The Hen 122
Mallard 124
Evening Thrush 125
Treecreeper 127
A Dove 128
Uncollected (1982-3)
Sing the Rat 129
Swallows 131
From River (1983)
Under the Hill of Centurions 134
Milesian Encounter on the Sligachan 135
That Morning 138
A Rival 140
Performance 141
An Eel 143
October Salmon 145
Visitation 148
Uncollected (1984)
The Hare I-III 149
From Flowers and Insects (1986)
Two Tortoiseshell Butterflies 152
In the Likeness of a Grasshopper 154
From Wolfwatching (1989)
A Sparrow Hawk 155
Wolfwatching 156
From Tales From Ovid (1997)
From Arachne 160
From Birthday Letters (1998)
The Owl 162
The Chipmunk 163
Epiphany 164
From Selected Translations (2006)
From The Boy Changed into a Stag Cries Out at the Gate of Secrets 167
The Prophet 170