As I walked with my guide dog, Trigger through the park a thousand thoughts chased one another round my head. Suddenly I paused and became aware of the beauty of the birdsong filling my ears and of the warm spring sunshine upon my face. Then those lines of Wordsworth came to mind “Have I not reason to lament what man has made of man?”.
In the poem Wordsworth contrasts the happy thoughts which come into his mind on a lovely spring day, surrounded by nature’s beauty with the suffering of mankind
“Lines Written In Early Spring
I HEARD a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:—
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?”.
