| Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918. |
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| 57. ‘Hope holds to Christ the mind’s own mirror out’ |
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. . . . . . . .
HOPE holds to Christ the mind’s own mirror out | |
| To take His lovely likeness more and more. | |
| It will not well, so she would bring about | |
| An ever brighter burnish than before | |
| And turns to wash it from her welling eyes | 5 |
| And breathes the blots off all with sighs on sighs. | |
| Her glass is blest but she as good as blind | |
| Holds till hand aches and wonders what is there; | |
| Her glass drinks light, she darkles down behind, | |
| All of her glorious gainings unaware. | 10 |
. . . . . . . .
I told you that she turned her mirror dim | |
Betweenwhiles, but she sees herself not Him.
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| | | See Notes. |
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