Leisure... A look at Life

"What is this life if, full of care,We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughsAnd 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 canEnrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,We have no time to stand and stare. "

Leisure’ is a simple yet beautiful and thought provoking poem written by William Henry Davies. As a child when I learnt it in the 4th grade it made no sense to me. The world of grown ups was complicated as it is, and I remember feeling sorry for them if they couldn't see the beauty of the world as I saw it.

Now I myself am grown up and the true meaning of the poem reveals itself before my eyes. As I go to work and watch myself mechanically doing day to day work and life procedures like a wound up toy, animated yet bouncing through the floods of life, I realize the poignant note in the lines:

 "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."

We think of food , clothes, cars, money and so on, and rush through life as if getting to the end of it is the main target. We don't think of the places we have to see, the sights we are missing out on, how it would feel to just stand still and watch the birds fly by, the wind whisper.. the moment when day and night embrace, the talk of each child of nature, the wisdom of the stars... so many things that we see yet not see. The treasures of sight , sound , smell taste, all under our very noses , yet like a blind man we go after what we or society deems important.

Many of us wish our lives were like Arabian Nights or any other great adventure story with exotic lands, treasures to be discovered and so on, but we don't realize that everything is there right before us.

I realize I cant give up my work or financial security for a dream, not many of us can afford to do that, there are the heavy chains of expectations, goals and all that tie us down. But at the same time we have to just stop and think, what have I done for myself? What have I seen, experienced, felt? We give so much importance to the means that we totally lose sight of the end... for WHAT are we slaving away?

So, I'm going to 'stop and stare' , not at signs and billboards or people, but at LIFE itself. We all should, and weigh what we really want, how each day can be made perfect, a little bit more human and full of life. Its time our dreams flew on the wings of reality...