An apt poem from Gerard Manley Hopkins. See if you can spot the line that Lewis stole and put in the mouth of a character in his Chronicles. This poem has been on my mind ever since I read it last spring and realized that I'm in the middle verse now. Oh, and all poetry is best read aloud, but Hopkins especially. And this one gathers a lot of momentum towards the end.
Here 'tis:
Morning, Midday, and Evening Sacrifice
THE DAPPLED die-away
Cheek and wimpled lip,
The gold-wisp, the airy-grey
Eye, all in fellowship—
This, all this beauty blooming,
This, all this freshness fuming,
Give God while worth consuming.
Both thought and thew now bolder
And told by Nature: Tower;
Head, heart, hand, heel, and shoulder
That beat and breathe in power—
This pride of prime’s enjoyment
Take as for tool, not toy meant
And hold at Christ’s employment.
The vault and scope and schooling
And mastery in the mind,
In silk-ash kept from cooling,
And ripest under rind—
What life half lifts the latch of,
What hell stalks towards the snatch of,
Your offering, with despatch, of!
-Gerard Manley Hopkins
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