Cloud-puffball, torn tufts, tossed pillows ‘ flaunt forth, then chevy on an air-
built thoroughfare: heaven-roysterers, in gay-gangs ‘ they throng; they glitter in marches.
Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash, ‘ wherever an elm arches,
Shivelights and shadowtackle in long ‘ lashes lace, lance, and pair.
Delightfully the bright wind boisterous ‘ ropes, wrestles, beats earth bare
Of yestertempest’s creases; in pool and rut peel parches
Squandering ooze to squeezed ‘ dough, crust, dust; stanches, starches
Squadroned masks and manmarks ‘ treadmire toil there
Footfretted in it. Million-fuelèd, ‘ nature’s bonfire burns on.
But quench her bonniest, dearest ‘ to her, her clearest-selvèd spark
Man, how fast his firedint, ‘ his mark on mind, is gone!
Both are in an unfathomable, all is in an enormous dark
Drowned. O pity and indig ‘ nation! Manshape, that shone
Sheer off, disseveral, a star, ‘ death blots black out; nor mark
Is any of him at all so stark
But vastness blurs and time ‘ beats level. Enough! the Resurrection,
A heart’s-clarion! Away grief’s gasping, ‘ joyless days, dejection.
Across my foundering deck shone
A beacon, an eternal beam. ‘ Flesh fade, and mortal trash
Fall to the residuary worm; ‘ world’s wildfire, leave but ash:
In a flash, at a trumpet crash,
I am all at once what Christ is, ‘ since he was what I am, and
This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, ‘ patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,
Is immortal diamond.
(Gerard Manley Hopkins)
More Poetry from Gerard Manley Hopkins:
Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems based on Topics: Man, Mind, Immortality, Eternity, Jokes & Humor- The Blessed Virgin Compared To The Air We Breathe (Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems)
- Tom's Garland: Upon the Unemployed (Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems)
- Binsey Poplars Felled /79 (Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems)
- (Carrion Comfort) (Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems)
- The Furl of Fresh-Leaved (Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems)
- Thou Art Indeed Just, Lord (Gerard Manley Hopkins Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, Mind Poems, Eternity Poems, Immortality Poems, Jokes & Humor PoemsBased on Keywords: masks, ropes, ooze, trash, squeezed, unfathomable, lashes, marches, lance, elm, arches