No Master
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
William Henry Davies
Born: 3 July 1871, Newport, Wales
Nationality: Welsh
Died: 26 September 1940, Gloucestershire, England
Davies was a poet and writer. He spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo in the UK and the USA yet became one of the most popular poets of his time. His themes included his observations on life’s hardships, the human condition reflected in nature his travels as a tramp, and the characters he met. Davies is classified as a Georgian Poet, however much of his writing is not typical of the group in style and theme
From the Back of the Wardrobe 