Explore "Father Gerard Hopkins, s. J" by Joyce Kilmer on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Why didst thou carve thy speech laboriously, / And match and blend thy words with curious art? / For Song, one saith, is but a human heart / Speaking aloud, undisciplined and free. / Nay, God be praised, Who fixed thy task for thee! / Austere, ecstatic craftsman, set apart / From all who traffic in Apollo's mart, / On thy phrased paten shall the Splendour be!
Now, carelessly we throw a rhyme to God, / Singing His praise when other songs are done. / But thou, who knewest paths Teresa trod, / Losing thyself, what is it thou hast won? / O bleeding feet, with peace and glory shod! / O happy moth, that flew into the Sun!