Message from Wordsworth

Yet again, I can’t help but feel that the life I wish us all to lead is not some future fantasy, but happening right here, right now, in so many ways. Another sunny San Francisco day and in the little green patch of park down the street from me, kids and neighbors I know are flying kites and a large group of young folk, men, women, black, brown and white, are playing a hilarious kickball game one-handed with a can of beer in the other hand. As noted in my “A Happy Little Story” blog, so many folks of all ages spending their days together outdoors playing games, viewing the cherry blossoms, eating great food, browsing in the local bookstore, biking to the ocean, gathering on blankets spread out amidst the flowers. It is easy to forget the horrors we’re inflicting upon each other shown in the daily news— and for what? 

 

So it was both depressing and affirming to be reminded that this dynamic has been at play throughout human history. In the midst of savoring the beauty of a day almost three centuries ago, the poet William Wordsworth expressed his confusion that we would choose to create hell in the midst of heaven. 

 

Lines Written in Early Spring

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

 

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

 

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

 

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:—

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

 

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

 

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

Indeed.