Poems (Sharpless)/My Desire
MY DESIRE
How little do I ask, to make my joy!
Only what Nature on all things bestows;
No daring wishes do my thoughts employ,
I ask no cloudless sky, no thornless rose.
Only what Nature on all things bestows;
No daring wishes do my thoughts employ,
I ask no cloudless sky, no thornless rose.
Only that my unquestioned feet may tread,
In early spring, some grassy wayside lane,
Or stray when autumn's blaze a glory spread
That thrills with rapture near akin to pain.
In early spring, some grassy wayside lane,
Or stray when autumn's blaze a glory spread
That thrills with rapture near akin to pain.
Only to gaze in eyes beloved, and see
An answering sweet contentment, and to know
That where it makes my happiness to be
On that one heart I a like bliss bestow.
An answering sweet contentment, and to know
That where it makes my happiness to be
On that one heart I a like bliss bestow.
I ask but little, but I ask too much
Of Fate, who points me to a different path,
Where careless hands my quivering heart may touch,
Until I steel myself in pride and wrath.
Of Fate, who points me to a different path,
Where careless hands my quivering heart may touch,
Until I steel myself in pride and wrath.
My heart's desire may not come to me,
Whose pulses to such homely measures move,
That above wealth, I prize my liberty,
And more than all, peace, confidence and love.
Whose pulses to such homely measures move,
That above wealth, I prize my liberty,
And more than all, peace, confidence and love.