Clay in the Hands

Some of you may know and some may not (and most may not care 🙂 ) but not only did I major in Bible in my undergraduate studies but I also majored in English.  One of the remnants of that experience I still carry today is a love of poetry.  .  .  .   .  Alright, everybody recovered?  I know that may have come as a shock for some of you.

One of my favorite poets is from the Romantic Period.  William Wordsworth and I are kindred spirits.  His love of nature and his ability to communicate his connection to the world around him has always stirred me.

To stay in touch with my love of poetry, I subscribe to a daily email produced by the Writer’s Almanac.  Every morning, there is a different poem in my inbox.  Some days it is a classic and some days it is more modern.  Today’s poem is William Wordsworth’s Lines Written in Early Spring.

In this poem, Wordsworth paints a moving picture of being alone in a grove of trees in early spring.  He noticed the singing of the birds.  He observed the budding of plants and all the simplicity and freshness of what nature brings in spring.  But in the midst of all the beauty and simplicity, he became aware of something.

Here are two of his stanza’s:

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In  that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to 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.

 

In the midst of the serenity, beauty and simplicity of nature, Wordsworth was reminded of how complicated and jaded the rest of the world has become – particularly what man has made of man.  As I read his lines today, it made me pause and think about how much better life would be if we all put aside our hypocrisy and politics and just lived life as ourselves; not trying to be someone we are not.  Of course, there is something dangerous and raw about that that scares us.

But wouldn’t it be nice?