273. My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is by Sir Edward Dyer
b'Sir E Dyer read by Classic Poetry Aloud:\\nhttp://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/\\n\\nGiving voice to the poetry of the past.\\n\\n---------------------------------------------\\n\\nMy Mind to Me a Kingdom\\nby Sir Edward Dyer (d. 1607)\\n\\nMy mind to me a kingdom is;\\n Such present joys therein I find,\\nThat it excels all other bliss\\n That earth affords or grows by kind:\\nThough much I want that most would have,\\nYet still my mind forbids to crave.\\n\\nNo princely pomp, no wealthy store,\\n No force to win the victory,\\nNo wily wit to salve a sore,\\n No shape to feed a loving eye;\\nTo none of these I yield as thrall;\\nFor why? my mind doth serve for all.\\n\\nI see how plenty surfeits oft,\\n And hasty climbers soon do fall;\\nI see that those which are aloft\\n Mishap doth threaten most of all:\\nThey get with toil, they keep with fear:\\nSuch cares my mind could never bear.\\n\\nContent I live, this is my stay;\\n I seek no more than may suffice;\\nI press to bear no haughty sway;\\n Look, what I lack my mind supplies.\\nLo, thus I triumph like a king,\\nContent with that my mind doth bring.\\n\\nSome have too much, yet still do crave;\\n I little have, and seek no more.\\nThey are but poor, though much they have,\\n And I am rich with little store;\\nThey poor, I rich; they beg, I give;\\nThey lack, I leave; they pine, I live.\\n\\nI laugh not at another\\u2019s loss,\\n I grudge not at another\\u2019s gain;\\nNo worldly waves my mind can toss;\\n My state at one doth still remain:\\nI fear no foe, I fawn no friend;\\nI loathe not life, nor dread my end.\\n\\nSome weigh their pleasure by their lust,\\n Their wisdom by their rage of will;\\nTheir treasure is their only trust,\\n A cloak\\xe8d craft their store of skill;\\nBut all the pleasure that I find\\nIs to maintain a quiet mind.\\n\\nMy wealth is health and perfect ease,\\n My conscience clear my chief defence;\\nI neither seek by bribes to please,\\n Nor by deceit to breed offence:\\nThus do I live; thus will I die;\\nWould all did so as well as I!\\n\\n\\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\\n\\nReading \\xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2008'