Clasping of Hands
George Herbert
Lord, thou art mine, and I am thine,
If mine I am: and thine much more,
Then I or ought, or can be mine.
Yet to be thine, doth me restore;
So that again I now am mine,
And with advantage mine the more
Since this being mine, brings with it thine,
And thou with me dost thee restore.
If I without thee would me mine,
I neither should me mine nor thine.
Lord, I am thine, and thou art mine:
So mine thou art, that something more
I may presume thee mine, then thine.
For thou didst suffer to restore
Not thee, but me, and to be mine,
And with advantage mine the more,
Since thou in death wast none of thine,
Yet then as mine didst me restore.
O be mine still! still make me thine!
Or rather make no Thine and Mine!
The many times “thine” and “mine” were said in this poem made me smile. It is a lovely theme, yet I find the repetition too distracting for some reason and I cannot enjoy the poem to its fullest…
Now the artwork is wonderful! It reminds so much of the sensual images of Georgia O’Keefe’s flowers as well as Stieglitz’s photographs of Georgia’s hands! Beautiful and innovative!
I think the repetition and convoluted logic is intended to confuse the reader who tries to keep track of the mines and thines; it expresses the mysterious union which we have with God. I thought the artwork, which is one hand but could not possibly be one hand, was a good image for this poem. Another artwork I considered was the beautiful sculpture ‘Cathedral’ by Auguste Rodin.