I. <br /> <br />There are some folks that say, <br />They have found out a way, <br />To be healthy and wealthy and wise-— <br />"Let your thoughts be but few, <br />Do as other folk do, <br />And never be caught by surprise. <br />Let your motto be—Follow the fashion, <br />But let other people alone; <br />Do not love them, nor hate them, nor care for their fate, <br />But keep a look out for your own. <br />Then what though the world may run riot, <br />Still playing at catch who catch can; <br />You may just eat your dinner in quiet, <br />And live like a sensible Man." <br /> <br /> <br />II. <br /> <br />’Twere a beautiful thing, <br />Thus to sit like a king, <br />And talk of the world turning round, <br />If it were not that we <br />Like all things that we see, <br />Are standing on moveable ground. <br />While we boast of our tranquil enjoyments, <br />The means of enjoyment are flown, <br />Both our joys and our pains, till there’s nothing remains, <br />But the tranquil repose of a stone. <br />The world may be utterly crazy, <br />And life may be labour in vain; <br />But I'd rather be silly than lazy, <br />And would not quit life for its pain. <br /> <br /> <br />III. <br /> <br />In Nature I read <br />Quite a different creed, <br />There everything lives in the rest; <br />Each feels the same force, <br />As it moves in its course, <br />And all by one blessing are blest. <br />The end that we live for is single, <br />But we labour not therefore alone, <br />For together we feel how by wheel within wheel, <br />We are helped by a force not our own <br />So we flee not the world and its dangers, <br />For He that has made it is wise, <br />He knows we are pilgrims and strangers, <br />And He will enlighten our eyes.<br /><br />James Clerk Maxwell<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/tune-il-segreto-per-esser-felice/
