Nature

The Old Labourer

by William Lisle Bowles 1762–1850

From The Villager's Verse-Book

Nature

Are you not tired, you poor old man!
The drops are on your brow;
Your labour with the sun began,
And you are labouring now!

I murmur not to dig the soil,
For I have heard it read,
That man by industry and toil
Must eat his daily bread.

The lark awakes me with his song,
That hails the morning gray,
And when I mourn for human wrong,
I think of God, and pray.

Let worldlings waste their time and health,
And try each vain delight;
They cannot buy, with all their wealth,
The labourer's rest at night.

MLA

Bowles, William Lisle. “The Old Labourer.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/bowles/128/.

Chicago

Bowles, William Lisle. “The Old Labourer.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/bowles/128/.

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