How happy may we be, my love!
How happy may we be,
If we our humble means improve,
My wife, my child, and me.
Our home shall be a turtle's nest,
Where duty, peace, and love,
Shall make its inmates truly blest,
And sorrow far remove.

And if the world upon us frown,
Still peace serene is ours;
It cannot bear the free mind down,
With all its tyrant powers:
For if they bear me far away,
And bind me with a chain,
Our nestling will beside thee stay—
Then do not, love, complain.

But virtue only can endow
With happiness secure;
For virtue learns her vot'ries how
Each trial to endure.
How wretched is the feeble mind
That shrinks at every blast!
Whilst virtue is a bulwark kind,
Enduring to the last.

There fortified, the storms of fate
Around us harmless howl;
No coward terrors they create
To shake the steadfast soul:
We calmly pass through life, my love,
Its blessings we enjoy;
And, when it please the Power above,
Without a murmur die.