In 24 All-Star Readers on the Words That Rock Their Worlds, singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant praises Hopkins' ability to write with real depth on the most profound of experiences.

Spring and Fall: to a young child

Márgarét;, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves, líke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Áh! Ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though wolds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow's spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
—Gerard Manley Hopkins

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