Nature
Moonrise
From Poems (1918)
I AWOKE in the Midsummer not to call night, |in the
white and the walk of the morning:
The moon, dwindled and thinned to the fringe | of a
finger-nail held to the candle,
Or paring of paradisaïcal fruit, | lovely in waning but
lustreless,
Stepped from the stool, drew back from the barrow, | of
dark Maenefa the mountain;
A cusp still clasped him, a fluke yet fanged him, | en-
tangled him, not quit utterly.
This was the prized, the desirable sight, | unsought, pre-
sented so easily,
Parted me leaf and leaf, divided me, | eyelid and eyelid of
slumber.
Cite this poem
MLA
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “Moonrise.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/hopkins/63/.
Chicago
Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “Moonrise.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/hopkins/63/.
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