A simple, cheerful, active life on earth, <br />A cup I’d not exchange for monarch’s chalice, <br />In noble forebears’ tracks a path since birth, <br />With equal dignity in hut and palace, <br />With eye as when created heav’nward turned, <br />All beauty here and grandness keenly knowing, <br />Familiar though with those things deeply yearned, <br />Stilled only by eternity’s bright glowing. <br /> <br />I wished for all my line just such a life, <br />And zealously I planned for its fruition, <br />And when my soul grew tired from toil and strife, <br />The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ was its rest and its nutrition. <br />Then from truth’s spirit I great comfort gained, <br />And felt joy hover o’er each garden border, <br />When dust is placed in its creator’s hand <br />And all is waited for in nature’s order: <br /> <br />Just fresh, green buds that sprout in early spring, <br />And in the summer heat the flowers’ profusion; <br />And when the plants mature and long to bring <br />Their harvest fruit to autumn’s full conclusion! <br />The human span assigned is short or long, <br />It is for common weal, its yield is growing; <br />The day that started well will end as strong, <br />And just as sweet will be its afterglowing.<br /><br />Nicolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-simple-cheerful-active-life-on-earth/
