What gives shape to a life
the physical features
the scuttling back and forth
the hills climbed
the seas in which we bathed
the dry dust of different cities
different arrays of stone
and in the distance mountains
and deep valleys
our bodies ever changing
growing and adapting
and ultimately ageing
and all the while
the emotional features
shaping our feelings
our hopes and dreams
ideas of romance
ideas of love
ideas of achievement
as we reconcile
to almost inevitable
failures and count
our blessings
Hopkins wrote
of the topography
of the mind
that rollercoaster
of the inner life
the one we live
silently to ourselves
knowing that we are
our own deepest
mystery : easier
to know another
to see through
the pretences
the subterfuges
concocted
out of fear : and yet
the truth
will aways out
Hopkins who clung
to the precipice of faith
by his fingertips
who feared the darkness
into which his heart
might one day plunge
John Lyons