Sunday, March 29, 2020

God's Grandeur - Gerard Manley Hopkins



The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings. 

(God's Grandeur, Gerard Manley Hopkins)

Friday, March 27, 2020

Wild Things



We've been holed up for almost two weeks now.  Yesterday our County issued a Stay-At-Home Order, which means only essential activities are allowed outside.  The image was taken last week when the order wasn't issued yet so Rose and I had a chance to go for a walk in our neighborhood.  Right now, the area is mostly empty lots and wild flowers.  The wild flowers above are a variety of Pink Evening Primrose that grows in Central Texas.  It is a small purple or pink flower with a hollow, white-to-yellow center.  The flowers are most active between the months of February to May.