It's National Poem in Your Pocket Day! This is the day when the Academy of American Poets encourages everyone to carry a favorite poem around in their pockets and then "share with co-workers, family and friends."

Well, my co-workers are really more into swinging, and playing with toy ponies, and dumping dried beans all over the floor, than in listening to poetry. (Although I did read from A Child's Garden of Verses during potty time today). My husband likes poetry, but he's at work. If my poem were actually in my pocket, it would stay there, all folded and covered in lint and being crumpled up whenever I shoved pacifiers and barrettes and stray graham crackers in next to it. So I will cast my poem out into the wilds of the Internet in hopes that it will reach a wider audience.

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

--William Henry Davies

I read this poem in the Writer's Almanac today and it struck me immediately. I wish I took more time in my life to stand and stare, instead of always being full of care.