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“To His Watch” by Gerard Manley Hopkins 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (28 Jul 1844 – 8 Jun 1889)
Mortal my mate, bearing my rock-a-heart
Warm beat with cold beat company, shall I
Earlier or you fail at our force, and lie
The ruins of, rifled, once a world of art?
The telling time our task is; time’s some part,
Not all, but we were framed to fail and die—
One spell and well that one. There, ah thereby
Is comfort’s carol of all or woe’s worst smart.
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Field-flown the departed day no morning brings
Saying “This was yours” with her, but new one, worse.
And then that last and shortest …