25.
The majesty! what did she mean?
Breathe, arch and original Breath.
Is it love in her of the being as her lover had been?
Breathe, body of lovely Death.
They were else-minded then, altogether, the men
Woke thee with a we are perishing in the weather of Gennesareth.
Or is it that she cried for the crown then,
The keener to come at the comfort for feeling the combating keen?
The Wreck of the Deutschland
By Gerard Manley Hopkins
The following three stanzas all try to interpret what the nun meant with her calling. Hopkins asks that the Holy Spirit will guide him (Breathe, arch and original Breath). He asks if she was happy to meat her death (as in the litany of St Gertrude the Great where there is an invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary for a happy death). Furthermore, in the perspective of the nuptial mysticism of St Gertrude a sister is a bride to Christ and isn’t death then another word for life with the groom?
Or were the sisters hesitant and else-minded? Even the disciples where weak on the stormy lake of Gennesareth in Matthew 8:24. but the faithful will be keen when the finally meet him, as in the last line. Was the nun keen for the crown of Martyrdom?
Only four of the nuns where found. Probably one of them climbed out on deck only to be swept away by a wave. The four nuns behind her probably decided to try to stay put. They and other dead bodies where lying around on the floor in the cabin area.
March 12, 2008 at 4:42 am
Excruciating lines, great graphic, terrific commentary.
March 14, 2008 at 2:02 am
I really am very much enjoying these reflections.
February 19, 2015 at 1:43 am
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