As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves--goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is—
Christ—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the feature of men’s faces.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Dragonflies Draw Flame
Gerard Manley Hopkins
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A paraphrase:
ReplyDeleteWatch the Kingfisher scoop a small fish from the stream, the water shimmering on the surface like dancing fire. See the sparkling water flicker toward the hovering dragonfly.
What more? Toss the stone over the rim of the round, dark well. Hear it tumble down. Gaze at the beautiful stitchwork of embroidery; hear the heavy hammer of the bell as it rings out its name.
Each thing does and is one thing. Offers itself, dwelling inside a visible being.
"Me," each one says. "Myself," it says plainly. Cries, "What I do is me; for this I came."
Ah, as for mankind: Just men do justice, smoothing the way with grace. Acts out what God sees in him, and more--what he is--Jesus, here, in the faces of ten thousand of His creatures.
He is, the loveliness in our limbs and in our eyes, the loveliness seen by the Father, on the features of our faces.