Saturday, February 11, 2006

Gerard Manley Hopkins



God's Grandeur


THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.



And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

6 comments:

Russ said...

Laura, you are a poet. Do ya know it?

Russ said...

Laura, you are a poet. Do ya know it?

Laura said...

Isn't that the most amazing poem? It's been one of my favorites since freshman year of college when I was first exposed to Gerard Manley Hopkins. Love it!

Also, "Pied Beauty" is a lovely example of how easy it is to find a reason to worship God.

j.ro said...

Oooh! Look at me! I'm Laura Roberts and I go around making fun of other people for not blogging, and then I fill my blogs with other peoples' work! Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! I'm a big blog putz!

;)
It was only appropriate.

Laura said...

j.ro, you are SO mean.

j.ro said...

you started it!