Monday, May 14, 2012

The World is Too Much With Us

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
          Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
          Little we see in Nature that is ours;
          We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
          The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
          The winds that will be howling at all hours,
          And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
          For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
          It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
          A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;                      
          So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
          Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
          Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
          Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
                                                            ~ William Wordsworth, 1806

Feels like that lately.  But, I've got a duckling sleeping on my lap and the sun is shining and I still see much in Nature that is mine.  So, adieu computer and bonjour glorious spring day!

3 comments:

Flicka Spumoni said...

Everything man sees was made for man - George MacDonald

Justine said...

Beautiful quote! Adoro Rev. McDonald! And yet why, when I delve into Unspoken Sermons do I feel that I am treading into knowledge too high for me -- I cannot attain it? He is almost unsettlingly Spirit-soaked.

Anonymous said...

Oh! For Chri-Petes I'm turning in circles. I am searching the internet for the quote of MacDonald's about "Everything man see..." And what shows up on Google - Adorable Trivialities and our previous conversation!!!!!!! Are we the only two in the universe acquainted with this quote? Where was this, anyway? Was it in Phantastes? I'm trying to pin it down for the treatment I need to write.
Correctly Referencing A Quote: That's a Peace Prize!