I
I have lain in the sun,
I have toiled as I might,
I have thought as I would,
And now it is night.

II
My bed full of sleep,
My heart of content
For mirth that I met
The way that I went.

III
I welcome fatigue
While frenzy and care,
Like thin summer clouds,
Go melting in air.

IV
To dream as I may
And awake when I will,
With the song of the birds
And the sun on the hill.

V
Or death were it death,
To what should I wake,
Who loved in my home
All life for its sake?

VI
What good have I wrought?
I laugh to have learned
That joy cannot come
Unless it be earned:

VII
For a happier lot
Than God giveth me
It never hath been
Nor ever shall be.