A Beggar's Life

A Beggar's Life written by William Henry Davies

Nature Poems (1908)

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When farmers sweat and toil at ploughs,
Their wives give me cool milk and sweet;
When merchants in their office brood,
Their ladies give me cakes to eat,
And hot tea for my happy blood;
This is a jolly life indeed,
To do no work and get my need.

I have no child for future thought,
I feed no belly but my own,
And I can sleep when toilers fail;
Content, though sober, sleeps on stone,
But Care can't sleep with down and ale;
This is a happy life indeed,
To do no work and get my need.

I trouble not for pauper's grave,
There is no feeling after death;
The king will be as deaf to praise
As I to blame - when this world saith
A word of us in after days;
It is a jolly life indeed,
To do no work and get my need.

This work is in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years or less.