The following poem is taken from “THE ARCHWAY READER – ENGLISH READER FOR CLASS TEN”. This text book was prepared by BERNARD COFFEY, who has a visiting professor of English, Regional Institute of English South India, Bangalore. This text book was published by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, first published in 1977 and priced: Rs. 3.35. This was the text book I read in my class ten.
In that text book we had a poem written by W.B. Rands, Titled: GREAT, WIDE, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL WORLD.
‘Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world
with wonderful water round you curled
and the wonderful grass on your breast
world, you are beautifully dressed.
Ah, you are so great, and I am so small
I tremble to think of you, world, at all,
and yet when I said my prayers today,
A whisper incidence seemed to say,
You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot;
you can love & think and the Earth cannot!’
The above is a short form of poem and the full poem is as follows:
Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world
With the wonderful water around you curled
And the wonderful grass upon your breast
World, you are beautifully dressed.
The Wonderful air over me
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills
And talks to itself on the top of the hills
You friendly Earth, how far do you go,
With the wheat fields that nod, and the rivers that flow
With cities, and gardens and cliffs and isles
And people up on you for thousands of miles?
And you are so great, and I am so small,
I tremble to think of you world at all
And yet when I said my prayers today
A whisper inside me seemed to say
You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot;
You can love and think, and the Earth cannot.
W.B. Rands (William Bright Rands) born on 24th Dec 1823 Died 23rd April 1883 at the age of 58. Nationality. English. More information can be had from: www.wbrands.com
