Pastoral in  General   

The little sparrows
hop ingenuously
about the pavement
quarreling
with sharp voices
over those things
that interest them.
But we who are wiser
shut ourselves in
on either hand
and no one knows
whether we think good
or evil.

Meanwhile,
the old man who goes about
gathering dog-lime
walks in the gutter
without looking up
and his tread
is more majestic than
that of the Episcopal minister
approaching the pulpit
of a Sunday.
These things
astonish me beyond words.

By William Carlos Williams

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Other poems by William Carlos Williams:

• A Celebration
• A Goodnight
• A Sort Of A Song
• Approach Of Winter
• April Is The Saddest Month
• Aux Imagistes
• Berket And The Stars
• Blizzard
• Complaint
• Complete Destruction
• Danse Russe
• Dedication For A Plot Of Ground
• from "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower"
• Heel & Toe To The End
• Item
• Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus
• Light Hearted Author
• Light Hearted William
• Love Song
• Muier
• Nantucket
• Overture To A Dance Of Locomotives
• Pastoral
• Poem (As the cat)
• Portrait Of A Lady
• Romance Moderne
• Spring And All
• Suzanne
• Sympathetic Portrait Of A Child
• The Cold Night
• The Crowd At The Ball Game
• The Dance
• The Defective Record
• The Desolate Field
• The Disputants
• The Great Figure
• The Hunters in the Snow
• The Ivy Crown
• The Last Words Of My English Grandmother
• The Late Singer
• The Poem
• The Red Wheelbarrow
• The Soughing Wind
• The Term
• The Thing
• The Uses Of Poetry
• The Young Housewife
• This Is Just To Say
• To A Friend
• To A Friend Concerning Several Ladies
• To A Poor Old Woman
• To Elsie
• To Waken An Old Lady
• Tract
• Willow Poem
• Winter Trees
• Youth And Beauty