REST IS NOT RUST

 

REST IS NOT RUST

            Rest is not rust. It is rejuvenation. Those who boast of working all the 24  hours of a day are not good models for those who work during the day and rest during the night.

            Medical science emphasizes at least seven hours of sound sleep. Sleeplessness is called insomnia and is a disease. Modern man is a victim of this disease and uses medicines to get rid of it but not with full success.

            It is worthwhile to know that not only men but also machines need rest, otherwise they burst and cause a lot of destruction.

            Here are some relevant quotes:

*Rest is the sweet sauce of labour.---Greek-Roman philosopher, born around 46 CE and died after 119 CE.

*Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness – the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected, -- Scottish novelist  George Macdonald  (1824-1905).

* All work and no rest takes the spring and bound out of the most vigorous life.---Time spent in judicious resting is not time wasted, but time gained.---American author M. B. Grier .

            Finally, here is a short poem titled LEISURE written by the Welsh poet and writer William Henry Davies (1871-940).

                                                            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.

 

                                                            ********

G.R. Kanwal

21 October 2026