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Leisure

William Henry Davies 1871 – 1940

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 is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

33 sec read
1,369

Quick analysis:

Scheme aA bb cc dd ee ff aA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 514
Words 109
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Full analysis for Leisure »

William Henry Davies

William Henry Davies or W H Davies was a Welsh poet and writer Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or vagabond in the United States and United Kingdom but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time The principal themes in his work are the marvels of nature observations about lifes hardships his own tramping adventures and the various characters he met Davies is usually considered as one of the Georgian poets although much of his work is atypical of the style and themes adopted by others of the genre more…

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