The World is Too Much With Us

The World Is Too Much With Us

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;

The winds that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

    Editor's note: This morning, during meditation, I found myself saying those words: "The world is too much with us." In that poem, Wordsworth says that we are too caught up in the material world. And not paying enough attention to the spiritual world. Now, though, I think the virus is helping to change that. My husband says the irony of the situation is that as people are more distanced from each other physically, they are also becoming aware that they are more connected with one another. "We're understanding that we're all in the same boat and what each of us does really does impact everyone else."