BELIEVE IT OR NOT
“BELIEVE IT OR NOT” is a poem
written by the English poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). He was one of greatest
poets who loved and admired nature. In most of his poems, we find his thoughts
about flowers, mountains, woods, rivers, fields, farms, winds, and streams.
The poem mentioned above starts with
the following lines:
“The charities that soothe and heal,
and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man like
flowers.
Its
theme is that “It is not the rich and noble who can be generous and kind.”
Poverty
in every country is defined as “the state of lacking the basic financial
resources and essentials for a dignified standard of living. But if you ask knowledgeable
persons : Are poor people less charitable?. They will answer: No. Poor people are rather more charitable. This is
due to their having greater empathy and a stronger sense of shared experiences
of scarcity and hardship. Furthermore, they have a greater degree of compassion,
concern for others , belief in egalitarian values, and altruistic behaviour.
An
English clergy Caleb C. Colton (1780-1832) said : If you ask what keeps some
persons poor? And what has made some others rich? The true answer to these
queries would often make the poor man more proud of his poverty than the rich
man is of his wealth, and the rich man more justly ashamed of his wealth, than
the poor man unjustly is of his poverty. Finally, here is the full text of the poem
mentioned above:
The charities that soothe and heal,
and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man like
flowers.
The generous inclination, the just
rule,
Kind wishes, and good actions, and
pure thoughts;
No mystery is here, ---no special
boon
For high and not for low,---for
proudly graced,
And not for meek of heart. The smoke
ascends
To heaven as lightly from the cottage
hearth
As from the haughty palace.
********
G.R.Kanwal
25 August 2025
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