LECTIO POETICA
If you have not read the explanation for Lectio Poetica, I encourage you to read it here before reading Hopkin’s poem below.
As Kingfishers Catch Fire
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.
Source: Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and Prose
REFLECTION:
• What word, phrase, image, or sentence from Hopkin’s poem catches your attention today? Sit quietly for a few moments chewing on it. Then, pray the prayer that comes forth from your meditation. Afterwards, simply sit quietly trusting that what you need is here.
* The Season of Creation, running from September 1 to October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, brother to all life forms especially the most vulnerable, is being celebrated more and more as a liturgical season by Christian communities of faith.
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