Fortunatus Nimium

I have lain in the sun I have toil’d as I might I have thought as I would And now it is night.

My bed full of sleep My heart of content For friends that I met The way that I went.

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

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

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

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

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