Contentment

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1. "Man wants but little here below"
2.  
3. LITTLE I ask; my wants are few;
4. I only wish a hut of stone,
5. (A _very plain_ brown stone will do,)
6. That I may call my own;--
7. And close at hand is such a one,
8. In yonder street that fronts the sun.
9.  
10. Plain food is quite enough for me;
11. Three courses are as good as ten;--
12. If Nature can subsist on three,
13. Thank Heaven for three. Amen
14. I always thought cold victual nice;--
15. My _choice_ would be vanilla-ice.
16.  
17. I care not much for gold or land;--
18. Give me a mortgage here and there,--
19. Some good bank-stock, some note of hand,
20. Or trifling railroad share,--
21. I only ask that Fortune send
22. A _little_ more than I shall spend.
23.  
24. Honors are silly toys, I know,
25. And titles are but empty names;
26. I would, _perhaps_, be Plenipo,--
27. But only near St. James;
28. I'm very sure I should not care
29. To fill our Gubernator's chair.
30.  
31. Jewels are baubles; 't is a sin
32. To care for such unfruitful things;--
33. One good-sized diamond in a pin,--
34. Some, not so large, in rings,--
35. A ruby, and a pearl, or so,
36. Will do for me;--I laugh at show.
37.  
38. My dame should dress in cheap attire;
39. (Good, heavy silks are never dear;)--
40. I own perhaps I might desire
41. Some shawls of true Cashmere,--
42. Some marrowy crapes of China silk,
43. Like wrinkled skins on scalded milk.
44.  
45. I would not have the horse I drive
46. So fast that folks must stop and stare;
47. An easy gait--two, forty-five--
48. Suits me; I do not care;--
49. Perhaps, for just a _single spurt_,
50. Some seconds less would do no hurt.
51.  
52. Of pictures, I should like to own
53. Titians and Raphaels three or four,--
54. I love so much their style and tone,
55. One Turner, and no more,
56. (A landscape,--foreground golden dirt,--
57. The sunshine painted with a squirt.)
58.  
59. Of books but few,--some fifty score
60. For daily use, and bound for wear;
61. The rest upon an upper floor;--
62. Some _little_ luxury _there_
63. Of red morocco's gilded gleam
64. And vellum rich as country cream.
65.  
66. Busts, cameos, gems,--such things as these,
67. Which others often show for pride,
68. I value for their power to please,
69. And selfish churls deride;--
70. _One_ Stradivarius, I confess,
71. _Two_ Meerschaums, I would fain possess.
72.  
73. Wealth's wasteful tricks I will not learn,
74. Nor ape the glittering upstart fool;--
75. Shall not carved tables serve my turn,
76. But _all_ must be of buhl?
77. Give grasping pomp its double share,--
78. I ask but _one_ recumbent chair.
79.  
80. Thus humble let me live and die,
81. Nor long for Midas' golden touch;
82. If Heaven more generous gifts deny,
83. I shall not miss them much,--
84. Too grateful for the blessing lent
85. Of simple tastes and mind content!