Better Things

    Better to smell the violet
    Than sip the glowing wine;
    Better to hearken to a brook
    Than watch a diamond shine.

    Better to have a loving friend
    Than ten admiring foes;
    Better a daisy's earthy root
    Than a gorgeous, dying rose.

    Better to love in loneliness
    Than bask in love all day;
    Better the fountain in the heart
    Than the fountain by the way.

    Better be fed by mother's hand
    Than eat alone at will;
    Better to trust in God, than say,
    My goods my storehouse fill.

    Better to be a little wise
    Than in knowledge to abound;
    Better to teach a child than toil
    To fill perfection's round.

    Better to sit at some man's feet
    Than thrill a listening state;
    Better suspect that thou art proud
    Than be sure that thou art great.

    Better to walk the realm unseen
    Than watch the hour's event;
    Better the Well done, faithful slave!
    Than the air with shoutings rent.

    Better to have a quiet grief
    Than many turbulent joys;
    Better to miss thy manhood's aim
    Than sacrifice the boy's.

    Better a death when work is done
    Than earth's most favoured birth;
    Better a child in God's great house
    Than the king of all the earth.