Poem 408. I Have Wasted the Day…

I have wasted the day in the fields and the lanes,
I have tramped in the leaves and the mud;
I have dined upon air and scrumped me a pear
And an apple the colour of blood.

Though my fingers are purple from blackberry stains,
Though my hair is a tangle of straw;
Though my jacket was torn on bramble and thorn,
It was worth it for all that I saw.

It was worth all the aches, it was worth all the pains—
I have rambled and scrambled and raced;
And my stick was mislaid where I dozed in the shade,
And I waded in brooks and neglected my books,
And I startled a hare (and the taste of that pear!)
What waste, what a glorious waste!

Felix Dennis was a millionaire whose fortune was founded upon publications such as Maxim and Computer Shopper but he loved the countryside and particularly trees. This poem was inspired by his own experience:

Sunday September 29, 2002 was just such a day—an autumnal day when it was good to be alive; when the hedgerows and trees were bursting with fruit, when the sun shone, when the wind was mild, when the leaves on the trees glowed like miniature sunsets, when birds sang and silly squirrels foraged for nuts…the kind of day when only an invalid, a prisoner or an idiot would not have stolen a few hours in what is left of the English countryside. So I did!
Felix Dennis, Tales from the Woods.

This poem ably expresses the feeling of freedom Dennis must have felt that day in September 2002 and he describes the sensations he felt as he followed the lanes and paths around his home. Anyone who has walked in the countryside will recall the sights, sounds, and smells they have experienced and the blackberry stains on the fingers, the chaotic hair, the rents in one’s jacket and the loss of a stick are deemed perfectly adequate payment for “all that I saw.”

Even risking the ire of a farmer by abstracting his fruit is worth it for “the taste of that pear!” and although he describes the day as wasted, we feel that his tongue is firmly in his cheek because his verve in describing the things he did is boundless and his closing words say it all: “What waste, what a glorious waste!”

I like this poem because Dennis expresses the joy of rambling in the country with its manifold demands on the senses and the joys they bring and reminds us that although such a day can be exhausting, it carries so many rewards that the cost in time and effort is repaid in many ways.

You can watch Felix Dennis talking about the book “Tales From The Woods” on YouTube and although I’ve been unable to find any footage of him performing this poem, there are recordings aplenty of him performing his other poems.