Upon Westminster Bridge

For almost everyone who visits London, the sight of Westminster Bridge, the river Thames, and the London skyline create a wonderful and impressionable memory. This was also true for William Wordsworth, some 220 years ago.  His poem describes London and the river Thames, in the early morning. Inspiration for the poem was provided by a journey made by Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy through London en route to Calais. At dawn they boarded the coach from Charing Cross to Dover. In her Journal, Dorothy described crossing Westminster Bridge, noting London’s beauty ‘there was even something like the purity of one of nature’s own grand spectacles’. Wordsworth conveyed these feelings in his sonnet, completing it on their return journey . The speaker celebrates the majestic, ‘sleeping’ city, using the technique of personification. Take a moment to recall some of your own moments standing on bridges as you viewed a city. Sadly and tragically war destroys not only lives but often the beauty of cities and the hard and skilled labor that built so much grandeur.

UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
Earth has not any thing 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! William Wordsworth

Prayer:
Holy and loving God,
we seek your help and need your
inspiration to lift us out of despair and bring
us into the firm foundation of your hope. Our world
is shaken by the evil of war, lives are destroyed, hearts
are broken, and hope is fractured. Revenge
seems to be the path world leaders choose. Save us from
our own destruction, forgive us for the years and decades when
we have denied justice and a space for all peoples to call home.
In the midst of fear, help us to extend love and grace. In the midst of
terror, help us to remain strong and supportive of a possible peaceful way forward.
Holy God, grant courage to all held captive, grant strength to all who seek
the welfare of sisters and brothers regardless of passport identification. Change the hearts of the evil that hope might be born.
Holy God, somehow, someway might we together become better. Grant us
all a “mighty heart”.
Hear this our faltering prayer and in silence we continue to….
pray. Amen.