10 ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS
On a Contented Mind
WHEN all is done and said,
In the end thus shall you find,
He most of all doth bathe in bliss
That hath a quiet mind :
And, clear from worldly cares,
Can deem to be content
The sweetest time in all his life
In thinking to be spent.
The body subject is
To fickle Fortune's power,
And to a million of mishaps
Is casual every hour :
And Death in time doth change
It to a clod of clay ;
Whenas the mind, which is divine,
Runs never to decay.
Companion none is like
Unto the mind alone ;
For many have been harmed by speech.
Through thinking, few or none.
Fear oftentimes restraineth words,
But makes not thought to cease ;
And he speaks best that hath the skill
When for to hold his peace.
Our wealth leaves us at death ;
Our kinsmen at the grave ;
Virtues of the mind unto
The heavens with us we have*
Wherefore, for virtue's sake,
I can be well content,
The sweetest time of all my life
To deem in thinking spent.
Lord Vaux
I Know My Soul Hath Power to Know
IKNOW my soul hath power to know all things,
Yet she is blind and ignorant in all;
I know I'm one of Nature's little kings,
Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall.
I know my life's a pain and but a span ;
I know my sense is mocked in everything;
, to conclude, I know myself a Man,
Which is a proud and yet a wretched thing.
* Sir John Davies