Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WANDERER, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WANDERER, by                 Poet Analysis    
First Line: No morning breaks but he would pack
Last Line: He took in joy at every breath.'
Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H.


No morning breaks but he would pack,
With knapsack flung across his back,
And farther than the cuckoo roam,
Who makes no nest, and he no home.
And who he is, or where shall go,
No woman and no man shall know;
And where he sleeps a secret is,
Only the harvest moon's and his.
And long before his meal is done,
A wandering dog shall have his bone;
Beneath the trees, what birds are there
Shall have without a song their share.
And those that ride in coach or car,
While he's afoot, where towns are far,
Will point and say -- 'A beggar, he!'
But where he shows his money free,
For ale the best -- not begs for water --
He'll hear the landlord's smiling daughter
Go whispering to her room, surprised --
'He's some big man come here disguised!'
And everywhere he goes he'll be,
To young and old, a mystery;
And laughing in his heart, will sow
His wonder-seeds where he shall go.
For, free, he lives his simple life,
And has not risked it with a wife.
Prefers tobacco's quiet blisses
To Love's breath-mixture sealed by kisses.
Can drink his ale, for days and days,
With no one to upbraid his ways.
Has studied his own self, to find
His best friends fancies of the mind;
More faithful friends by far than he
Shall find in human company.
Has forced his presence in no place,
To meet at last declining grace;
Has always waited others' greeting,
Before he ventured on their meeting.
Since all his life has been like this,
Retiring into dreams of bliss,
Write these true words above his dust:
'He died because Age said he must;
He gave no man or woman power
To change him from sweet looks to sour;
Society never gave him pain,
No woman broke his heart in twain;
His body perished when his heart
Had no foul blight in any part;
From day to day, from birth to death,
He took in joy at every breath.'





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