Thursday, August 13, 2015

The Furl of Fresh-Leaved Dogrose


Listen to:

The Furl of Fresh-Leaved Dogrose (1:13)

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode



The furl of fresh-leaved dogrose down
His cheeks the forth-and-flaunting sun
Had swarthed about with lion-brown
     Before the Spring was done.

His locks like all a ravel-rope's-end,
   With hempen strands in spray--
Fallow, foam-fallow, hanks--fall'n off their ranks,
   Swung down at a disarray.

Or like a juicy and jostling shock
   Of bluebells sheaved in May
Or wind-long fleeces on the flock
   A day off shearing day.

Then over his turnéd temples--here--
   Was a rose, or, failing that,
Rough-Robin or five-lipped campion clear
   For a beauty-bow to his hat,
And the sunlight sidled, like dewdrops, like dandled
     diamonds
Through the sieve of the straw of the plait.




No comments:

Post a Comment