On Retirement
On Retirement
Original Text
The Poems of Philip Freneau, ed. Fred Lewis Pattee, I (New Jersey, 1902) : 84-85. PS 755 AZ University of Toronto at Mississauga
2 With forests planted round,
3 Whatever it to you may seem
4 More real happiness I deem
5 Than if I were a monarch crown'd.
6 A cottage I could call my own
7 Remote from domes of care;
8 A little garden walled with stone,
9 The wall with ivy overgrown,
10 A limpid fountain near,
11 Would more substantial joys afford,
12 More real bliss impart
13 Than all the wealth that misers hoard,
14 Than vanquish'd worlds, or worlds restored --
15 Mere cankers of the heart!
16 Vain, foolish man! how vast thy pride,
17 How little can your wants supply! --
18 'Tis surely wrong to grasp so wide --
19 You act as if you only had
20 To vanquish -- not to die!
Notes
1] Title and text from 1786 edition; retitled "The Wish of Diogenes in 1795. Published under the pseudonym "Hezekiah Salem." Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2004
Rhyme
Form