“Pied Beauty”

In his poem “Pied Beauty,” Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote in 1918,

           Glory be to God for dappled things—
             … 
            All things counter, original, spare, strange;
             …
            He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
            Praise him.

In this poem Hopkins seems to have identified and beautifully expressed one of those attributes of our God that I most naturally worship Him for, namely, His infinite imagination and creative genius. Wondrous is the word that comes most readily to my mind. This weekend I saw a fish at the Dolphin Island Aquarium that was stunningly imaginative, counter, original, spare and strange: a lion fish.

On the way home along the Interstate, tree buds tinted their branches green against a grey clouded sky. The Carolina Jasmine accented with yellow and the Redbuds with purple-red. Unidentified rust-reds (young maple?) and whites (plums?) counterpointed. Oh, He fathered-forth whose beauty is past change. Praise Him.