Indeed this is 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, Would 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 will stick Like burs. 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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNDER A PATCHED SAIL by MARIANNE MOORE FOUR PRELUDES ON PLAYTHINGS OF THE WIND by CARL SANDBURG THE LACHRYMATORY by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER MUSIC OF HUNGARY by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH ACROSS THE STREET by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH |