Leisure
By William Henry Davies
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 is feeling appropriate tonight, as I finally sit down at the computer at midnight to capture any logical thoughts that might have managed to survive the last eighteen hours. In the end, I’m left with my forehead resting in my hands and thinking about how fast time goes and why we spend so much of it doing things we despise. I realize we must all be grown-ups and responsible to a certain degree, but this cannot be what life was intended for; mundane and unsatisfactory work to pay for the “just in case” possibilities of life and every other nickel and dime expense. I know that soon enough I’ll be making strides away from life as I know it today, to reach for something more fulfilling but sometimes it’s not easy to question how much time we’ve missed by being responsible and by simply not living. Makes me admire hippies a little bit. I know I can’t let go that much, but maybe there is a happy medium.
Photo courtesy of www.llgc.org.uk
Good for you Shannon, life’s too short. If you want inspiration to cast off the shackles get hold of a copy of http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-be-Free-Tom-Hodgkinson/dp/0241143217 – you’ll love it.
Thanks Roy, I think I’m going to check that out.
Should’ve known, there’s a book for everything, huh?
I’ll let you know how it goes!
Nice (no not nice) very good post; we all get this fed up feeling at times.
Why do we waste our time; doing, doing, doing,
when outside the sun shines?
Where we could sit and stare,
not waste time
live, climb
above the world
reach the peak from where
appreciation lived
it was ok to chill
make decisions at will
sunshine taking off the chill
then back it comes
with no warning
seeking out the urgent calling,
of doing, doing, doing.
Shannon, Just chill and don’t feel guilty!!
Thank you for your kindness. It’s always good to know there are people who understand.
This isn’t the first time you’ve left a post that put me at ease.
Have a great night.
I find myself feeling like this quite a bit. Really, a lot recently. I’ve been so busy, busy working at the job where I get paid and at home where I volunteer ;-p. I feel as if I am half assing both most days. But then there are those few random moments when my co-workers enrich my life or I am able to do something extra special that I would not have if I was not working. I know what days like this do help me do, they help me to really enjoy the good, simple, easy going moments in my life, like sleeping in, quietly reading a book. taking a vacation and doing absolutely nothing. Good luck on your journey to ultmate happiness, it’s a bumpy road.
Sounds familiar CJ. Always good to hear from you. I wish you a lot of luck as well. As long as those good moments outweigh the bad ones, we are very lucky, aren’t we?
Yes you are right. As long as the good outweighs the bad, some weeks I just don’t know. 🙂