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Saturday 14 March 2015

Lent, day 22: Glory be to God for dappled things

A poem of praise, on this dappled day...and just squeaking in under midnight: 'Pied Beauty'

Glory be to God for dappled things -
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh fire-coal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced - fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim'
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise Him.
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Love this poem for its affirmation of difference - 'all things counter, original, spare, strange,' etc:
the affirmation that all things can praise, not just those that are the default norm, that conform, are regular or regulated.
Also, what's not to love about the rumble-tumble rhyme and rhythm of this poem?
Painting beauty with words.

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