| Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918. |
| |
| 26. The Candle Indoors |
| |
| |
| SOME candle clear burns somewhere I come by. | |
| I muse at how its being puts blissful back | |
| With yellowy moisture mild night’s blear-all black, | |
| Or to-fro tender trambeams truckle at the eye. | |
| By that window what task what fingers ply, | 5 |
| I plod wondering, a-wanting, just for lack | |
| Of answer the eagerer a-wanting Jessy or Jack | |
| There God to aggrándise, God to glorify.— | |
| |
| Come you indoors, come home; your fading fire | |
| Mend first and vital candle in close heart’s vault: | 10 |
| You there are master, do your own desire; | |
| What hinders? Are you beam-blind, yet to a fault | |
| In a neighbour deft-handed? Are you that liar | |
| And, cast by conscience out, spendsavour salt? | |
| | | See Notes. |
| |
| |
