Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET, by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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First Line: Thou art indeed just, lord, if I contend
Last Line: Mine, o thou lord of life, send my roots rain.
Variant Title(s): "justus Quidem Tu Es, Domine;""thou Art Indeed Just, Lord, If I Contend"";
Subject(s): Bible; Christianity; God; Religion; Theology


Justus quidem tu es, Domine, si disputem tecum: verumtamen justa
loquar ad te: Quare via impiorum prosperatur? &c.

THOU art indeed just, Lord, if I contend
With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.
Why do sinners' ways prosper? and why must
Disappointment all I endeavour end?

Wert thou my enemy, O thou my friend,
How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost
Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust
Do in spare hours more thrive than I that spend,
Sir, life upon thy cause. See, banks and brakes
Now leaved how thick! laced they are again
With fretty chervil, look, and fresh wind shakes
Them; birds build -- but not I build; no, but strain,
Time's eunuch, and not breed one work that wakes.
Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.






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