March 24, 21017--Upon Westminster Bridge

In 1802, William Wordsworth composed this sonnet upon the same bridge in London where there was terrorist carnage earlier this week that killed five and injured more than three dozen.

Especially now it is worth pausing for a minute, as Wordsworth did that early September morning, to remind us that life and beauty are to be found everywhere, even at a time and place of evil.

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!