25 JULY 1987, Page 34

Standing and Staring

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

—W H Davies To take time, now, to stop to think (From schedules dreary, strict and tight, Like office, kids and kitchen-sink, And care's recurring duty-call) Implies you'll stand, and taste delight— By copse, beck, beech-wood, strath or fell, In calm, you'd say, the mind might drink; And stopping, you'll have time, as well, To ponder, muse and cogitate About the meaning of it all; But as you catch your breath, and blink, With room to question things, like Fate, The answers could, of course, appal; Not stopping means, at any rate, You're spared from standing on that brink.

Simon Curtis