Friday, December 17, 2010

Patience, hard thing!

Patience, hard thing! the hard thing but to pray,
But bid for, Patience is! Patience who asks
Wants war, wants wounds; weary his times, his tasks;
To do without, take tosses, and obey.
Rare patience roots in these, and, these away,
Nowhere. Natural heart’s ivy, Patience masks
Our ruins of wrecked past purpose. There she basks
Purple eyes and seas of liquid leaves all day.
 

We hear our hearts grate on themselves: it kills
To bruise them dearer. Yet the rebellious wills
Of us we do bid God bend to him even so.
And where is he who more and more distils
Delicious kindness?—He is patient. Patience fills
His crisp combs, and that comes those ways we know.


Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889), Untitled, pub. 1918

4 comments:

photojhh said...

Very profound, on many levels! :-)

Marybeth said...

It has been running through my head often of late. Good old Hopkins.

Kathy said...

Profound!

Grandpa & Grandma said...

You have a wonderful mind and a great ability to write. As previous people stated, very profound.