Poetry came up in conversation with neighbours yesterday - not me, I didn't tip it that way with a nod or a wink or a timely quotation - Mary offered a Gerard Manley Hopkins' kingfisher, remembered from the lessons of an enthusiastic English teacher when she was a girl, how often the way.
If i had it by heart, which I should, I'd offer this quiet piece by the celebrated Hopkins at any time. And i'm not surprised to be reminded of it at this juncture, at a turning over of books, stones and fond conjecture, looking for inspiration.
Heaven-Haven
(a nun
takes the veil)
I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies grow.
And I have
asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.
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