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by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889)

Patience, hard thing! the hard thing but...
Language: English 
Patience, hard thing! the hard thing but to pray,
But bid for, Patience is! Patience who asks
Wants war, wants wounds; weary his times, his tasks;
To do without, take tosses, and obey.
  Rare patience roots in these, and, these away,
Nowhere. Natural heart's ivy, Patience masks
Our ruins of wrecked past purpose. There she basks
Purple eyes and seas of liquid leaves all day.
 
  We hear our hearts grate on themselves: it kills
To bruise them dearer. Yet the rebellious wills
Of us we do bid God bend to him even so.
  And where is he who more and more distils
Delicious kindness? -- He is patient. Patience fills
His crisp combs, and that comes those ways we know.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844 - 1889), no title, appears in Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, first published 1918 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Ernst Křenek (1900 - 1991), "Patience", op. 112 no. 2 (1946-7), published 1970 [ high voice and piano ], from Four Songs, no. 2, Bärenreiter, BA 4125 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by James Walter Wilson (b. 1922), "Patience, hard thing! the hard thing but to pray", 1966 [ high baritone and piano ], from Carrion Comfort [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 119

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