Over All

by Jeffrey Essmann | July 30, 2025 1:00 am

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This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is a pantoum by John Hopkins.

Over All

Over all, through all, and in all,
this is what you say you are, Lord.
I touch you in every outstretched hand;
I hear you when the wind bends the treetops.
This is what you say you are, Lord.
I see you in every burst of tear and smile;
I hear you when the wind bends the treetops
And the leaves fall to return;
I see you in every burst of tear and smile.
I touch you in every outstretched hand,
and when the leaves fall to return,
over all, through all, and in all.

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John Hopkins has been an English teacher for forty-three years. John’s poetry has appeared in
Commonweal, St. Anthony Messenger, the National Catholic Reporter, The Leaflet, Sr.
Melannie Svoboda’s blog, Sunflower Seeds, The Catholic Poetry Room, Amethyst
Review, Ekstasis Magazine, and Fr. Timothy Joyce’s book Celtic Quest. For the past eight
years, John has been a Benedictine Oblate affiliated with Glastonbury Abbey in Hingham,
Massachusetts. John has published three books of poetry: Celtic Nan, Make My Heart a
Pomegranate, and With Caught Rain. You can reach John at brotherjohnnyhop@gmail.com.

Source URL: https://integratedcatholiclife.org/2025/07/over-all/

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