This little poem is memorable in its simplicity yet wisdom and a certain grace.
The Welsh poet, WH Davies (1871-1940), described himself in his 1908 autobiography as a super-tramp. He spent some years in the USA and Canada and, in a curious coincidence with last week’s poet ,WE Henley, lost a leg, though in Davies’s case train-hopping. Both were in their different ways undaunted.
LEISURE
WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand
and stare? –
No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:
No time to see, when woods
we pass,
Where squirrels hide their
nuts in grass:
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how
they can dance:
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
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