By Valaysia Smith
I read a poem with my classmates a week ago and didn’t really understand it until I saw this potted flower outside of a restaurant with the sunsetting behind it. My Heart Leaps Up was the poem by William Wordsworth. It was a relatable poem until it bombed me with the paradox “The Child is father of the Man”, reading that had confused me so much.
Poem:
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
(Wordsworth lines 7-9) of the stanza is pretty much where I was caught at until now. But since I think I understand it better, I want to explain here since it might open a new door for someone. You know, like turning over a new leaf. We all know that piety is another word for
worship. (Wordsworth lines 8-9) is where Wordsworth says “And I could wish my days to be/Bound each to each by natural piety” because he wants his love for nature to be a natural thing to worship. But what does it have to do with the Child being the father of the Man? I had assumed that he meant growing up but that wasn’t the case. What he means is that what you’re taught as a child is what you’ll do and be as an adult. He believes that we should take time to worship nature. I agree with this because if you look at our world today, everyone always has their eyes elsewhere. Phones, laptops, tablets, relationships, books even. But have you ever taken the time to admire things? Like sunsets, or a river, lake whatever, wild flowers that grow in your yard that you just mow down, mushrooms, have you ever tried bird watching?
There’s just so much that you really haven’t opened your eyes to yet, thankfully there’s no such thing as time when it comes to admiring nature. You could see it on a nature trail, outside the window of your car when you’re driving, and if you’re going to the beach admire the ocean and its waves.
You can seriously just admire it on the spur of the moment. It could even just be a minute. A second really to just look over your shoulder at life before cities, towns, and villages were even a thing. Sure we humans might have cut down most of it, but it’s still there. The only thing unpleasant about it is hiking through the woods and getting slapped by thorn bushes. Hey, it’s going to be February soon! Some of you might even buy flowers to give to someone, you could admire the flowers. No harm in that. Unless this special someone doesn’t like flowers, we’ll just have to beat them with a stick because there’s no harm in getting some help from nature you know. I’m kidding.
Don’t actually get a stick and wapow someone if they reject your flowers. I have to say when I’m joking since I have a darling brother that took that seriously once and I had a nice long talk about where he got the stick idea from. Wasn’t fun.
I don’t want to be responsible for you people beating others with a stick. Don’t do it to me guys.
