Content by George Herbert

Content

by George Herbert

Peace mutt'ring thoughts, and do not grudge to keep

Within the walls of your own breast:

Who cannot on his own bed sweetly sleep,

Can on another's hardly rest.

Gad not abroad at ev'ry quest and call

Of an untrained hope or passion.

To court each place or fortune that doth fall,

Is wantonness in contemplation.

Mark how the fire in flints doth quiet lie,

Content and warm t' it self alone:

But when it would appear to others' eye,

Without a knock it never shone.

Give me the pliant mind, whose gentle measure

Complies and suits with all estates;

Which can let loose to a crown, and yet with pleasure

Take up within a cloister's gates.

This soul doth span the world, and hang content

From either pole unto the center:

Where in each room of the well-furnisht tent

He lies warm, and without adventure.

The brags of life are but a nine days' wonder;

And after death the fumes that spring

From private bodies, make as big a thunder,

As those which rise from a huge King.

Only thy Chronicle is lost; and yet

Better by worms be all once spent,

Than to have hellish moths still gnaw and fret

Thy name in books, which may not rent:

When all thy deeds, whose brunt thou feel'st alone,

Are chaw'd by others' pens and tongue;

And as their wit is their digestion,

Thy nourisht fame is weak or strong.

Then cease discoursing soul, till thine own ground,

Do not thy self or friends importune.

He that by seeking hath himself once found,

Hath ever found a happy fortune.

***memory work for Term 1 of 2013-14 school year