No Worst, There is None
No Worst, There is None
Original Text
The Later Poetic Manuscripts of Gerard Manley Hopkins in Facsimile, ed. Norman H. MacKenzie (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1991): 272-73. PR 4803 H44A6 1991 Robarts Library
1No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
2 More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
3 Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
4Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
5My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief-
6 Woe, wórld-sorrow; on an áge-old ánvil wínce and síng --
7 Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked "No ling-
8Ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief."
9O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
10 Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
11May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
12 Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
13Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
14 Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.
Publication Start Year
1918
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1996-2000.
Rhyme