[This poem is more or less a meditation on Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem, God’s Grandeur]
For Hopkins The work of ah! bright wings Is not to fly Spread wide Snowy white Unmarked unmarred Pristine pure Holy wholly other Above our too dirty world Broken by our own bombs With cratered hope Rubbled dreams Too ruined for rescue Ah, no Those bright wings Wings of the Holy Ghost Do not spread wide To fly, untouched, away But to wrap our brokenness Close, so close That our labored breath Stills As the psalmist’s weaned child Stills On the mother’s breast Hidden within those ghostly Bright wings We yet continue to cry Continue to try For peace That peace We are told That passes understanding Perhaps Perhaps - I dare to hope I try to breathe - Perhaps That peace beyond understanding Is not beyond Those ah! bright wings