Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.

51. To R. B.

THE FINE delight that fathers thought; the strong

Spur, live and lancing like the blowpipe flame,

Breathes once and, quenchèd faster than it came,

Leaves yet the mind a mother of immortal song.

Nine months she then, nay years, nine years she long

Within her wears, bears, cares and moulds the same:

The widow of an insight lost she lives, with aim

Now known and hand at work now never wrong.

Sweet fire the sire of muse, my soul needs this;

I want the one rapture of an inspiration.

O then if in my lagging lines you miss

The roll, the rise, the carol, the creation,

My winter world, that scarcely breathes that bliss

Now, yields you, with some sighs, our explanation.