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Friday, March 21, 2008

Poetry Friday


Here's a poem for the first day of Spring Break:

The Tables Turned
by William Wordsworth

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first sweet evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless—
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.


Today's roundup is at Wild Rose Reader.

6 comments:

  1. Yeah!
    I'd want to shriek this one out the window the first day of Spring Break? But sleeping in... also a good choice.

    Cheers!

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  2. Now THIS is a Spring break. And how girls (and boys) should "go wild."

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  3. If only there wasn't 3 inches of snow outside my door. I would love to abandon those barren leaves and avail myself of spontaneous wisdom breathed by health.
    Perhaps we could do away with standardized testing and all lie down by babbling brooks and listen to the wisdom of woodpeckers.
    Lucky Wordsworth.

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  4. Yeah! Love the spirit of this poem. Better go outside now . . .

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  5. I love this! I wonder how he would have described my computer screen if books are barren leaves...

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  6. Raining here in Ft.Myers Bch...can't wait to feel nature between my toes tomorow at the beach! Great poem.

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