Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NO MASTER, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NO MASTER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Indeed this is sweet life! My hand
Last Line: A working slave with no days free.
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.
Subject(s): Freedom; Liberty


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.





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