Leisure-If Only We All Could

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

This poem of 7 rhyming couplets is truly pastoral. 

William Henry Davies writes ever fluidly  as he focused on the need for leisure while not forgetting sustainable living.


If you should just work, work and work....


If Atlas-like you carry the world on your tired shoulders.... 


If you do not stop to smell the roses along the way....


Then yours if a life that is sad, sad, sad. You will become but a passenger of the world; all tired and tied to the burdens of the world; to your obligations.


Even  in the Bible, Jesus has advised that we let tomorrow take care of itself. After all even the birds find sustenance in the Lord's world; why not the Children of God?


I like the pastoral catchwords such as boughs, sheep and cows,the woods, the squirrels and their nuts and the glistening streams.


The lessons to be learnt. Know how to appreciate God and the wonders of this world.


Take time to appreciate beauty. 


Savour the moment of joy as a lady's mouth turned into a lovely smile. 


Looks at her eyes as she beckons you to come hither.


Look into her eyes and fell in love


Treasure the spring of life and the dance of joy.


True, a poor life, if you do not see the world and the beauty that it has to give.