≡ Menu

“And though the last lights off the black West went…”

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.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Walter Sobchak August 2, 2019, 10:49 PM

    In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

    3 And one cried unto another, and said,

    Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
    the whole earth is full of his glory.

    4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

    5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

  • bob sykes August 3, 2019, 4:01 AM

    Although I have read poetry for over 50 years, for some bizarre reason I only came across Manley some 10 years ago. My fault. He is a truly fine poet, at many times a great poet. He is clearly on a par with Jeffers and Robinson, whether he rises to Eliot is a matter of taste.

    But thanks again.

  • Lance de Boyle August 3, 2019, 11:25 AM

    It’s the “Gerard” part that explains it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhQwFf6Qb9U

    The leaden echo. Youth passes. All is lost.

    The golden echo. Not to worry. Nothing is lost. God’s got your back.