But ah, bright forelock, cluster that you are
Of favoured make and mind and health and youth,
Where lies your landmark, sea mark, or soul’s star?
There’s none but truth can stead you. Christ is truth.
There’s none but good can be good, both for you
And what sways with you, maybe this sweet maid;
None good but God – a warning waved to
One once that was found wanting when God weighed….
Enough: corruption was the world’s first woe.
What need I strain my heart beyond my ken?
O but I bear my burning witness though
Against the wild and wanton work of men….
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), On the Portrait of Two Beautiful Young People; A Brother and Sister, (unfinished poem)
Jesus said: 'You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.' 'I am am the truth.... No one comes to the Father except through me' (John 8:32 & 14:6). This never-finished poem, written at Christmas 1886, reflects Manley Hopkins' poetic response to a romantic portrait, that of a brother and sister who lived nearby. Today, there is much concern about our identity - how others see us and how we see ourselves. In 2024 Justin Welby resigned as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was criticised for his failure as Head of the Church of England to deal appropriately with the victims of the flagellist, John Smyth. Speaking personally, he found his own identity in the person of Christ. Hopkins also believed, as in this poem, that a Christian's true identity, 'stead', needs to be found in a person; 'Christ is truth'.
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