Madonna and Child, Marianne Stokes

I say that we are wound
With mercy round and round 
As if with air: the same
Is Mary, more by name.
She, wild web, wondrous robe,
Mantles the guilty globe,
Since God has let dispense 
Her prayers his providence:
Nay, more than almoner,
The sweet alms’ self is her
And men are meant to share
Her life as life does air.

—- Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe”

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