God's Grandeur

God's Grandeur (Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1918)

THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs-
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

I'm slightly ashamed of the picture, especially as when I back-blipped earlier I promised to do better than I'd done over the weekend. Plus I've blipped a few sunsets recently, and this isn't as good. The poem certainly deserves better, but I love it and have been meaning to quote it for ages. I love the idea of the world being 'charged' with God's grandeur, and regardless of our misuse of our planet the charge never runs out.

I fell in love with Hopkins' poetry when I studied it for A-level back in 1991/92, especially his poems about nature. Bizarrely I loved all my A-level texts - I was very lucky not to end up with some of the weird modern stuff that I never understand!

I walked nearly a mile this evening. I took it very slowly and kept stopping to take shots, but my legs were still shaking a little when I stopped. I loved it though - I'm beginning to think that (regardless of what my consultant says) it might be a good idea to try exercising a little bit every evening. Mornings seem to be just too much of a challenge at the moment.

Distant Sun - one of my favourite songs ever. Hope you like it too.

I've back-blipped Saturday and Sunday, so if you have a moment do click backwards :o)