A hermit's house beside a stream
With forests planted round,
Whatever it to you may seem
More real happiness I deem
Than if I were a monarch crowned.
A cottage I could call my own
Remote from domes of care;
A little garden, walled with stone,
The wall with ivy overgrown,
A limpid fountain near,
Would more substantial joys afford,
More real bliss impart
Than all the wealth that misers hoard,
Than vanquished worlds, or worlds restored-
Mere cankers of the heart!
Vain, foolish man! how vast thy pride,
How little can your wants supply!-
'Tis surely wrong to grasp so wide-
You act as if you only had
To triumph-not to die!
On Retirement
Philip Freneau
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Poem topics: happiness, heart, house, pride, fountain, wealth, wide, wall, garden, wrong, foolish, triumph, stone, stream, monarch, real, I love you, I miss you, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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