Leisure
W-h-davies
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Leisure by W. H. Davies
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These are the two famous lines that have come to define the poet, although he wrote more complex poetry than this. The essence is that life is hurried and frantic and pressured, and humans need to stop and take time to enjoy the world around us. The poem’s popularity derives from the universality of...
Leisure Annotated
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 or 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.