only in the thought

A short poem from Gerard Manley Hopkins, as taken from the pictured 1980 collection:


At a Welsh Waterfall

It was a hard thing to undo this knot.
The rainbow shines, but only in the thought
Of him that looks. Yet not in that alone,
For who makes rainbows by invention?
And many standing round a waterfall
See one bow each, yet not the same to all,
But each a hand's breadth further than the next.
The sun on falling waters writes the text
Which yet is in the eye or in the thought.
It was a hard thing to undo this knot.

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Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1899)

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