Rich or Poor by William Henry Davies
Rich or Poor by William Henry Davies With thy true love I have more wealth Than Charon’s piled-up bank doth hold; Where he makes kings lay down their crowns And life-long misers leave their gold. Without thy love I’ve no more wealth Than seen upon that other shore; That cold, bare bank he rows them […]
Rich Days by William Henry Davies
Rich Days by William Henry Davies Welcome to you rich Autumn days, Ere comes the cold, leaf-picking wind; When golden stocks are seen in fields, All standing arm-in-arm entwined; And gallons of sweet cider seen On trees in apples red and green. With mellow pears that cheat our teeth, Which melt that tongues may suck […]
No Master by William Henry Davies
No Master by William Henry Davies Indeed this is the sweet life! my hand Is under no proud man’s command; There is no voice to break my rest Before a bird has left its nest; There is no man to change my mood, When I go nutting in the wood; No man to pluck my […]
Nell Barnes by William Henry Davies
Nell Barnes by William Henry Davies They lived apart for three long years, Bill Barnes and Nell his wife; He took his joy from other girls, She led a wicked life. Yet ofttimes she would pass his shop, With some strange man awhile; And, looking, meet her husband’s frown With her malicious smile. Until one […]
Money by William Henry Davies
Money by William Henry Davies When I had money, money, O! I knew no joy till I went poor; For many a false man as a friend Came knocking all day at my door. Then felt I like a child that holds A trumpet that he must not blow Because a man is dead; I […]
Leisure by William Henry Davies
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, […]
Laughing Rose by William Henry Davies
Laughing Rose by William Henry Davies If I were gusty April now, How I would blow at laughing Rose; I’d make her ribbons slip their knots, And all her hair come loose. If I were merry April now, How I would pelt her cheeks with showers; I’d make carnations, rich and warm, Of her vermillion […]
Joy and Pleasure by William Henry Davies
Joy and Pleasure by William Henry Davies Now, joy is born of parents poor, And pleasure of our richer kind; Though pleasure’s free, she cannot sing As sweet a song as joy confined. Pleasure’s a Moth, that sleeps by day And dances by false glare at night; But Joy’s a Butterfly, that loves To spread […]
William Henry Davies – William Henry Davies
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In the Country by William Henry Davies
In the Country by William Henry Davies This life is sweetest; in this wood I hear no children cry for food; I see no woman, white with care; No man, with muscled wasting here. No doubt it is a selfish thing To fly from human suffering; No doubt he is a selfish man, Who shuns […]
In May by William Henry Davies
In May by William Henry Davies Yes, I will spend the livelong day With Nature in this month of May; And sit beneath the trees, and share My bread with birds whose homes are there; While cows lie down to eat, and sheep Stand to their necks in grass so deep; While birds do sing […]
Days Too Short by William Henry Davies
Days Too Short by William Henry Davies When primroses are out in Spring, And small, blue violets come between; When merry birds sing on boughs green, And rills, as soon as born, must sing; When butterflies will make side-leaps, As though escaped from Nature’s hand Ere perfect quite; and bees will stand Upon their heads […]
Come, Let Us Find by William Henry Davies
Come, Let Us Find by William Henry Davies Come, let us find a cottage, love, That’s green for half a mile around; To laugh at every grumbling bee, Whose sweetest blossom’s not yet found. Where many a bird shall sing for you, And in your garden build its nest: They’ll sing for you as though […]
Charms by William Henry Davies
Charms by William Henry Davies She walks as lightly as the fly Skates on the water in July. To hear her moving petticoat For me is music’s highest note. Stones are not heard, when her feet pass, No more than tumps of moss or grass. When she sits still, she’s like the flower To be […]
April’s Charms by William Henry Davies
April’s Charms by William Henry Davies When April scatters charms of primrose gold Among the copper leaves in thickets old, And singing skylarks from the meadows rise, To twinkle like black stars in sunny skies; When I can hear the small woodpecker ring Time on a tree for all the birds that sing; And hear […]
All in June by William Henry Davies
All in June by William Henry Davies A week ago I had a fire To warm my feet, my hands and face; Cold winds, that never make a friend, Crept in and out of every place. Today the fields are rich in grass, And buttercups in thousands grow; I’ll show the world where I have […]
Ale by William Henry Davies
Ale by William Henry Davies Now do I hear thee weep and groan, Who hath a comrade sunk at sea? Then quaff thee of my good old ale, And it will raise him up for thee; Thoul’t think as little of him then As when he moved with living men. If thou hast hopes to […]
A Plain Life by William Henry Davies
A Plain Life by William Henry Davies No idle gold — since this fine sun, my friend, Is no mean miser, but doth freely spend. No prescious stones — since these green mornings show, Without a charge, their pearls where’er I go. No lifeless books — since birds with their sweet tongues Will read aloud […]
A Greeting by William Henry Davies
A Greeting by William Henry Davies Good morning, Life–and all Things glad and beautiful. My pockets nothing hold, But he that owns the gold, The Sun, is my great friend– His spending has no end. Hail to the morning sky, Which bright clouds measure high; Hail to you birds whose throats Would number leaves by […]
A Great Time by William Henry Davies
A Great Time by William Henry Davies Sweet Chance, that led my steps abroad, Beyond the town, where wild flowers grow — A rainbow and a cuckoo, Lord, How rich and great the times are now! Know, all ye sheep And cows, that keep On staring that I stand so long In grass that’s wet […]
A Fleeting Passion by William Henry Davies
A Fleeting Passion by William Henry Davies Thou shalt not laugh, thou shalt not romp, Let’s grimly kiss with bated breath; As quietly and solemnly As Life when it is kissing Death. Now in the silence of the grave, My hand is squeezing that soft breast; While thou dost in such passion lie, It mocks […]
A Slumber did my Spirit Seal by William Wordsworth
A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees. ————— The End And that’s the End […]
A Sketch by William Wordsworth
The little hedgerow birds, That peck along the road, regard him not. He travels on, and in his face, his step, His gait, is one expression; every limb, His look and bending figure, all bespeak A man who does not move with pain, but moves With thought. -He is insensibly subdued To settled quiet: he […]
A Poet’s Epitaph by William Wordsworth
Art thou a Statist in the van Of public conflicts trained and bred? -First learn to love one living man; ‘Then’ may’st thou think upon the dead. A Lawyer art thou?-draw not nigh! Go, carry to some fitter place The keenness of that practised eye, The hardness of that sallow face. Art thou a Man […]
A Poet! He Hath Put His Heart To School by William Wordsworth
A poet!-He hath put his heart to school, Nor dares to move unpropped upon the staff Which art hath lodged within his hand-must laugh By precept only, and shed tears by rule. Thy Art be Nature; the live current quaff, And let the groveller sip his stagnant pool, In fear that else, when Critics grave […]
A Parsonage In Oxfordshire by William Wordsworth
Where holy ground begins, unhallowed ends, Is marked by no distinguishable line; The turf unites, the pathways intertwine; And, wheresoe’er the stealing footstep tends, Garden, and that domain where kindred, friends, And neighbours rest together, here confound Their several features, mingled like the sound Of many waters, or as evening blends With shady night. Soft […]
A Morning Exercise by William Wordsworth
FANCY, who leads the pastimes of the glad, Full oft is pleased a wayward dart to throw; Sending sad shadows after things not sad, Peopling the harmless fields with signs of woe: Beneath her sway, a simple forest cry Becomes an echo of man’s misery. Blithe ravens croak of death; and when the owl Tries […]
A Jewish Family In A Small Valley Opposite St. Goar, Upon The Rhine by William Wordsworth
GENIUS of Raphael! if thy wings Might bear thee to this glen, With faithful memory left of things To pencil dear and pen, Thou would’st forego the neighbouring Rhine, And all his majesty– A studious forehead to incline O’er this poor family. The Mother–her thou must have seen, In spirit, ere she came To dwell […]
A Gravestone Upon The Floor In The Cloisters Of Worcester Cathedral by William Wordsworth
“MISERRIMUS,” and neither name nor date, Prayer, text, or symbol, graven upon the stone; Nought but that word assigned to the unknown, That solitary word–to separate From all, and cast a cloud around the fate Of him who lies beneath. Most wretched one, ‘Who’ chose his epitaph?–Himself alone Could thus have dared the grave to […]
A Fact, And An Imagination, Or, Canute And Alfred, On The Seashore by William Wordsworth
THE Danish Conqueror, on his royal chair, Mustering a face of haughty sovereignty, To aid a covert purpose, cried–“O ye Approaching Waters of the deep, that share With this green isle my fortunes, come not where Your Master’s throne is set.”–Deaf was the Sea; Her waves rolled on, respecting his decree Less than they heed […]
A Complaint by William Wordsworth
There is a change-and I am poor; Your love hath been, nor long ago, A fountain at my fond heart’s door, Whose only business was to flow; And flow it did; not taking heed Of its own bounty, or my need. What happy moments did I count! Blest was I then all bliss above! Now, […]
Wayside Flowers by William Allingham
Wayside Flowers by William Allingham Pluck not the wayside flower, It is the traveller’s dower; A thousand passers-by Its beauties may espy, May win a touch of blessing From Nature’s mild caressing. The sad of heart perceives A violet under leaves Like sonic fresh-budding hope; The primrose on the slope A spot of sunshine dwells, […]
These Little Songs by William Allingham
These Little Songs by William Allingham These little Songs, Found here and there, Floating in air By forest and lea, Or hill-side heather, In houses and throngs, Or down by the sea; Have come together, How, I can’t tell: But I know full well No witty goose-wing On an inkstand begot ’em; Remember each place […]
The Touchstone by William Allingham
The Touchstone by William Allingham A man there came, whence none could tell, Bearing a Touchstone in his hand; And tested all things in the land By its unerring spell. Quick birth of transmutation smote The fair to foul, the foul to fair; Purple nor ermine did he spare, Nor scorn the dusty coat. Of […]
The Little Dell by William Allingham
The Little Dell by William Allingham Doleful was the land, Dull on, every side, Neither soft n’or grand, Barren, bleak, and wide; Nothing look’d with love; All was dingy brown; The very skies above Seem’d to sulk and frown. Plodding sick and sad, Weary day on day; Searching, never glad, Many a miry way; Poor […]
The Fairies by William Allingham
The Fairies by William Allingham Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren’t go a-hunting For fear of little men; Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together; Green jacket, red cap, And white owl’s feather! Down along the rocky shore Some make their home, They live on crispy pancakes Of yellow tide-foam; Some […]
The Eviction by William Allingham
The Eviction by William Allingham In early morning twilight, raw and chill, Damp vapours brooding on the barren hill, Through miles of mire in steady grave array Threescore well-arm’d police pursue their way; Each tall and bearded man a rifle swings, And under each greatcoat a bayonet clings: The Sheriff on his sturdy cob astride […]
The Boy by William Allingham
The Boy by William Allingham The Boy from his bedroom-window Look’d over the little town, And away to the bleak black upland Under a clouded moon. The moon came forth from her cavern, He saw the sudden gleam Of a tarn in the swarthy moorland; Or perhaps the whole was a dream. For I never […]
Robin Redbreast by William Allingham
Robin Redbreast by William Allingham Good-bye, good-bye to Summer! For Summer’s nearly done; The garden smiling faintly, Cool breezes in the sun; Our Thrushes now are silent, Our Swallows flown away, — But Robin’s here, in coat of brown, With ruddy breast-knot gay. Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! Robin singing sweetly In the falling […]
Places and Men by William Allingham
Places and Men by William Allingham In Sussex here, by shingle and by sand, Flat fields and farmsteads in their wind-blown trees, The shallow tide-wave courses to the land, And all along the down a fringe one sees Of ducal woods. That ‘dim discovered spire’ Is Chichester, where Collins felt a fire Touch his sad […]