Oh happy he who cannot see <br /> With scientific eyes; <br />Who does not know how flowers grow, <br /> And is not planet wise; <br />Content to find with simple mind <br /> Joys as they are: <br />To whom a rose is just a rose, <br /> A star--a star. <br /> <br />It is not good, I deem, to brood <br /> On things beyond our ken; <br />A rustic I would live and die, <br /> Aloof from learned men; <br />And laugh and sing with zest of Spring <br /> In life's exultant scene,-- <br />For vain my be philosophy, <br /> And what does meaning mean? <br /> <br />I'm talking rot,--I'm really not <br /> As dumb as I pretend; <br />But happiness, I dimly guess, <br /> Is what counts in the end. <br />To educate is to dilate <br /> The nerves of pain: <br />So let us give up books and live <br /> Like hinds again. <br /> <br />The best of wisdom surely is <br /> To be not overwise; <br />For may not thought be evil fraught, <br /> And truth less kind than lies? <br />So let me praise the golden days <br /> I played a gay guitar, <br />And deemed a rose was just a rose, <br /> A star--a star.<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ignorance-2/
