GMH

[truepenny]

Gerard Manley Hopkins is the good crack. He and John Donne were the two poets who made me want to be an English major back in high school.

Not, I'll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee;
Not untwist--slack they may be--these last strands of man
In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can;
Can something, hope, wish day come, not choose not to be.

But ah, but O thou terrible, why wouldst thou rude on me
Thy wring-earth right foot rock? lay a lionlimb against me? scan
With darksome devouring eyes my bruisèd bones? and fan,
O in turns of tempest, me heaped there; me frantic to avoid thee and flee?

Why? That my chaff might fly; my grain lie, sheer and clear.
Nay in all that toil, that coil, since (seems) I kissed the rod,
Hand rather, my heart lo! lapped strength, stole joy, would laugh, cheer.

Cheer whóm though? The héro whose héaven-handling flúng me, fóot tród
Me? or mé that fóught him? O which one? is it eách one? That níght, that yéar
Of now done darkness I wretch lay wrestling with (my God!) my God.

Comments

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you. That's been my favorite Hopkins poem for years, and it's been a long time since I last read it.