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 sleeve and say —
I want thy labour for this day;
No man to keep me out of sight,
When that dear Sun is shining bright.
None but my friends shall have command
Upon my time, my heart and hand;
I'll rise from sleep to help a friend,
But let no stranger orders send,
Or hear my curses fast and thick,
Which in his purse-proud throat would stick
Like burrs. If I cannot be free
To do such work as pleases me,
Near woodland pools and under trees,
You'll get no work at all, for I
Would rather live this life and die
A beggar or a thief, than be
A working slave with no days free.
This is a mantra for today; this new day. I will embrace and face this day and recognise that it is mine for the taking. I love this poem and message.
Free one is he who lives by this rules, free, wild, untamed. Only when one seeks companionship he will have to trade shards of this freedom in exchange for whatever his peer has to offer… 😏 and that is when the well constructed castles of glass might begin to crumble... Anyhow, as seeking companionship is not fashionable this days anymore, this could be an alluring aim for this wretched life. Thank you for posting the poem, it’s beautiful!