I <br />I have lain in the sun, <br />I have toiled as I might, <br />I have thought as I would, <br />And now it is night. <br /> <br />II <br />My bed full of sleep, <br />My heart of content <br />For mirth that I met <br />The way that I went. <br /> <br />III <br />I welcome fatigue <br />While frenzy and care, <br />Like thin summer clouds, <br />Go melting in air. <br /> <br />IV <br />To dream as I may <br />And awake when I will, <br />With the song of the birds <br />And the sun on the hill. <br /> <br />V <br />Or death were it death, <br />To what should I wake, <br />Who loved in my home <br />All life for its sake? <br /> <br />VI <br />What good have I wrought? <br />I laugh to have learned <br />That joy cannot come <br />Unless it be earned: <br /> <br />VII <br />For a happier lot <br />Than God giveth me <br />It never hath been <br />Nor ever shall be.<br /><br />Robert Seymour Bridges<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fortunatus-nimium/
