We want but little: in the morning--tide, <br />Bread to renew our energies; at noon, <br />Cool shade, to quiet evening yielding soon; <br />And then a ramble by the hedgerow side, <br />Or what our cottage--embers can provide <br />Of social comfort; and at night, the boon <br />Of peaceful slumber, when the gleamy moon <br />Up the lone heavens in starry state doth ride. <br />All that is more than these, into our life <br />By accident of place or station brought, <br />Feeds not the silent growth of ripening thought, <br />Wisdom best learned apart from throngs and strife, <br />In the broad fields, the sky's unvalued wealth, <br />And seasons gliding past us in their stealth.<br /><br />Henry Alford<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-lxxxvii-we-want-but-little-in-the-morning-tide/
