from "Oraclau/Oracles" by Geoffrey Hill

10: i. m. T. H. Parry-Williams

     The mountain ash, the rowan tree,
Turning a riot, most unlikely flesh,
     Erectile on the hazing sky
Its peaceful foliage instinct with clash:
     The pacifist in his own head
          Sees things past what they are,
Their heightened colour blood unpacified;
The hallowed conscience followed through despair
Put to the torch entangled with the wire.


Source of the text - Geoffrey Hill, Oraclau/Oracles. Thame, U.K.: Clutag Press, 2010, p. 4.

TJB: Outer peace. A mountain tree, looking peaceful but clashing within, compared Hopkinslike to a pacifist looking peaceful but clashing within.