Walking Tour Reflection

I would love to be the exception to the rule and be the Wordsworthian child, as the speaker explains it in “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”—that beacon of innocence and immortality, that mighty philosopher of lost truth, that being who has access to the glory of his origins. Unfortunately, I know that I’m a part of human life that is “a sleep and a forgetting”; the adult life of “earthly freight” encompasses my existence. And nature isn’t dreamlike “appareled in celestial light” to my senses anymore. These facts alone cause me to ask: how can I gain access to this realm that the child experiences? I may have found my answer while walking around Audubon Park. In my judgment, the child isn’t the only being on earth that has access to this pure, more glorious realm. During my walk, I couldn’t help to think that wildlife itself has access to it. I observed the egret’s unassuming persona and soft, mischievous walk: she lunged her head forward slightly and retracted it with equal slightness. The ducks and geese were at peace in their habitat as well. It didn’t seem like they forgot the “glories” from whence they came. Perhaps if I were in these animals’s presence more, I could be closer to the Wordsworthian child’s state of being.