Welcome back to The Daily Poem here on the Close Reeds Podcast Network. I'm David Kern. Today is April 16th, 2020.

And the poem that I'm going to read to you today is by a Welsh poet, a quite beloved poet in Wales, whose name is W.H. Davies. He lived from 1871 to 1940.

And the poem that I'm going to read to you is called Leisure.

It was written in 1911 and was published in a collection called Songs of Joy and Others.

And I actually am going to be reading it out of a book called the Folio Book of Children's Poetry.

About 16 months ago or so, when my daughter was born,

my daughter Lydia was born. A bunch of listeners of our podcasts got together and sent us a gift.

And included in that gift was this beautiful book from the Folio Society. Beautiful illustrations.

There's a, on the clothbound cover, there's a, there's a picture of a cat and then a lion with this gold foil.

And then on the back, there's a zebra, an owl, and a dancing bear.

And it's just a really beautiful book with these colorful illustrations.

So it's a great gift for your children or a great idea to have in your home.

So a little plug for this book.

Again, this is from the folio book of children's poetry, and it's W.H. Davies' poem called Leisure. Goes like this.

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 and 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 A poor life this is.

A poor life this, if full of care,

we have no time to stand and stare.

You have probably, possibly heard that final line,

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