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 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.
Enjoy "Leisure" with beautiful music
Poem Video👇
Who wrote the poem "Leisure"?
William Henry Davies (July 3, 1871 - September 26, 1940)
William Henry Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. Although he spent much of his earlier life as a poor traveller in the UK and US, he later became one of the most popular poets of his time. After his father died when he was 3 and his mother remarried the next year, Davies was raised by his grandparents. He attended school until age 14 and was a delinquent boy. His grandmother then signed him up for 5 year apprenticeship to a local picture frame maker, which he never liked. At age 22, he went to New York and drifted across the US and Canada, train hopping and casually laboring. After he lost his right leg below the knee from 1899 train hopping injury, Davies returned to Wales and settled in London, where he devoted his time to writing poetry. The main themes in his poems are life's hardships, the human condition reflected in nature, and city life.
Leisure (Poem)
"Leisure," first published in 1911, became Davies's best known poem. It reminds busy modern people of the importance to have some free time in nature. It was said to be strongly influenced by William Wordsworth's sonnet "The World Is Too Much with Us."
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