Tuesday, July 23, 2013

dappled things

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things –
   For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
   Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
      And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.


All things counter, original, spare, strange;
   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                Praise him.
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

3 comments:

  1. Oh that IS lovely... and it makes me realize that I should be reading a lot more poetry. I love that the poem is thanking God for the beauties of nature.
    Mary Keesling

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  2. Lovely etegami and i love Gerard manley Hopkins' poetry

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  3. You know, I'm more or less an atheist, but I have always fervently loved that poem (& Hopkins in general, but that is my absolute favorite). I actually wanted to make a children's book of it once, but decided against it... What a treat to see your lovely interpretation!

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