Mike Samford Poet Sonnet

A Prayer For Father Hopkins

Pray for Margaret you Jesuit priest, 
   who wept for falling leaves but cast no blame.
   Her soul, as leaf-meal lies, is now the same
in Heaven she can now confront her beast. 
Oh! Grief, not sweet-or-sour, but only grief, 
   as man was born for blight  - same as our shame,
   you twist your words like in a parlor game.
In flown fine-flowers you found your relief.  

   My poor pocket of pence, poor pence of mine
pray! Pray for us, pray you Jesuit priest ---
   for motion of your heart, your heart is fine,
   with all your want you could not make pine, pine.
Yet, light you gave; you gave the light at least
to cast before us a poetic feast.




Gerard Manley Hopkins -1844-1889: 
Jesuit priest and poet. 
Father of sprung rhythm, he is a hard read but few poets have as much to teach 
in rhythm, language, style and many other aspects of poetry. 
Hopkins' health, both mental and physical, had always been delicate; he was 
prone to digestive problems and severe depression. 
Even though agnostic, I am always uplifted by Hopkins' inter-weaving of sound, 
the sweep and swing of words. His is poetry which attempts to break from the 
plodding regularity of french-influenced metrical verse. Hopkins brought back 
beat to English poetry, structuring his verse around stresses in a breath rather 
than metrical feet.

His work:
http://oldpoetry.com/oauthor/show/Gerard_Manley_Hopkins

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