O Nature! I do not aspire <br />To be the highest in thy choir, - <br />To be a meteor in thy sky, <br />Or comet that may range on high; <br />Only a zephyr that may blow <br />Among the reeds by the river low; <br />Give me thy most privy place <br />Where to run my airy race. <br /> <br />In some withdrawn, unpublic mead <br />Let me sigh upon a reed, <br />Or in the woods, with leafy din, <br />Whisper the still evening in: <br />Some still work give me to do, - <br />Only - be it near to you! <br /> <br />For I'd rather be thy child <br />And pupil, in the forest wild, <br />Than be the king of men elsewhere, <br />And most sovereign slave of care; <br />To have one moment of thy dawn, <br />Than share the city's year forlorn.<br /><br />Henry David Thoreau<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nature-135/
