Upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth

Upon Westminster Bridge

by William Wordsworth

Westminster Bridge

EARTH has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

for those of us who have been delighted

by a large city prior to its wakening,

this poem holds emotions

near the heart

many mornings have I spent

in Los Angeles

under such conditions

walking the river

seeing traffic light

watching the streetlights flicker out

when sunlight told them go dark

Wordsworth's style of lyric poetry

set the stage for all the wonderful

lyrics we've been blessed with

from the mid 20th Century onward

it has purpose

it has style

is readable without a dictionary

thereby, emotional flows are not

interrupted

as in so much pseudo poetry of today

Bob Atkinson

January, 2013