Wild air, world-mothering air,
Nestling me everywhere,
That each eyelash or hair
Girdles; goes home betwixt
The fleeciest, frailest-flixed
Snowflake; that ‘s fairly mixed
With, riddles, and is rife
In every least thing’s life;
This needful, never spent,
And nursing element;
My more than meat and drink,
My meal at every wink;
This air, which, by life’s law,
My lung must draw and draw
Now but to breathe its praise,
Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only
Gave God’s infinity
Dwindled to infancy
Welcome in womb and breast,
Birth, milk, and all the rest
But mothers each new grace
That does now reach our race-
Mary Immaculate,
Merely a woman, yet
Whose presence, power is
Great as no goddess’s
Was deem
(Gerard Manley Hopkins)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Mind Poems, Woman Poems, Power Poems, Law & Regulation Poems, Praise Poems, Birth PoemsBased on Keywords: frailest-flixed, world-mothering, fleeciest