I desire to go where springs explode,
To fields alive with greens and golds
Where hills of poppies once blew.
And I ask to live forever,
Promising to stay with the high surf,
Out in the swing of the sea,
Green ever, dumb never.
So there! I quit the haven
For the tireless chop that is to be.
—Larry L. Meyer
9/10/83
For context, this verse is a response to the following gem of a poem, by the singular Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Heaven-Haven
A nun takes the veil
I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail,
And a few lilies blow.
And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.
—Gerard Manley Hopkins
1864
Photo by Molly Margaret Meyer.