I Love the Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins

I love the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Constrained by his high calling, he wrote on napkins
As the other priests ate in the church
Chow hall. The words and rhythms would lurch
And leap like a whale harpooned and protesting fate
While he was known for picking at the clerical plate
And smiling benignly to his brethren before
Composing another tumultuous line. The lore
Of ancients lined his life, but the Wreck of the Deutschland
Was a modern event; and Hopkins, with a steady hand:

"A love glides lower than death." Of course,
The magazine editor for the church was a horse,
And he told the diffident poet the poem did
Not meet current requirements. Duty said
To put aside indulgences and pray
Without ceasing, and so he did until he lay
On a stone bed and died at forty-four,
Poetic voice stilled and soul sore
From imperfection, conflicting God and art,
Conflicting the immortal spirit and the human heart.