Reading the works of the Early Romantics, (Blake, Wordsworth and Coleridge), brings me closer to nature and helps me feel peace. However, I believe that in order for one to fully comprehend their words, one must feel them. One must find a place away from the sounds of people and traffic. Quiet the mind, listen to the chirping birds, rustling leaves and breathe in the wind that has blown for eternity. Only then can one read and feel nature's meaning. It may take some travel, but it is well worth the trouble.

In honor of the Early Romantics, I wrote a short poem about the constant struggle between city and country:

Forgetting Romantics

Dare I dream of yesterdays?

Trees wholly ablaze

And Man's burdens falling away,

As the silence, save that of a stream,

Refreshes mind, body, soul of today.

But they round up the unknowing mules,

Encompassing within rigid rules

To erase memories of winds so cool;

Yet clear is the baaing of sheep,

The graduated fools.

How the curtains shut and remain,

Making our souls writher in their chains

And our minds wander among barren plains.

Aging flesh hanging, falling away,

As we, tortured rebels, become insane.