A Poem of Gerard Manley Hopkins which I Stumbled Across Last Night.

"As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;"

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves--goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.
I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is--
Christ--for Chrst plays in then thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

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As far as I can tell, this poem is expressing the Biblical idea that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Hopkins here is saying that whatever is on the inside of a person (or any mortal creature, for that matter) will be expressed in what they do: "Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: / Deals out that being indoors each one dwells." If a person is just, he or she will act justly, if a person is gracious, he or she will act graciously. Because God can see into the hearts of his creatures, he knows what we are on the inside, and what we do, what we look on the outside reflects what he sees in us. And, if we are in Christ, then Christ is seen in us, in what we do, how we act, in all areas of life--if we are in Christ, and Christ in us, then through the grace of God and the working of the Holy Spirit, we will express Christ in our life.

And read this poem out loud...Hopkins has some excellent sound-plays.