When all is done and said, <br />In the end thus shall you find, <br />He most of all doth bathe in bliss <br />That hath a quiet mind: <br />And, clear from worldly cares, <br />To deem can be content, <br />The sweetest time in all his life <br />In thinking to be spent. <br /> <br />The body subject is <br />To fickle Fortune's power, <br />And to a million of mishaps <br />Is casual every hour; <br />And death in time doth change <br />It to a clod of clay; <br />Whereas the mind, which is divine, <br />Runs never to decay. <br /> <br />Companion none is like <br />Unto the mind alone; <br />For many have been harmed by speech, <br />Through thinking few or none. <br />Fear oftentimes restraineth words, <br />But makes not thought to cease; <br />And he speaks best, that hath the skill <br />When for to hold his peace. <br /> <br />Our wealth leaves us at death; <br />Our kinsmen at the grave; <br />But virtues of the mind unto <br />The heavens with us we have. <br />Wherefore, for virtue's sake, <br />I can be well content, <br />The sweetest time in all my life <br />To deem in thinking spent.<br /><br />Thomas Vaux<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-quiet-mind-4/
