Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
The Wish
By Thomas Godfrey (1736–1763)I
And, though not in obscurity,
I would not, yet, be placed too high;
Between the two extremes I’d be,
Not meanly low, nor yet too great,
From both contempt and envy free.
Content of bounteous heaven I crave,
For that is more
Than all the India’s shining store,
To be unto the dust a slave.
With heart, my little I will use,
Nor let pain my life devour,
Or for a griping heir refuse
Myself one pleasant hour.
My wish would bound a small retreat,
In temperate air, and furnished neat;
No ornaments would I prepare,
No costly labors of the loom
Should e’er adorn my humble room;
To gild my roof I naught require
But the stern Winter’s friendly fire.
If gracious Heaven my wish would give,
While sweet content augments my joys,
Thus my remaining hours I’d live.
By arts ignoble never rise,
The miser’s ill-got wealth despise;
But blest my leisure hours I’d spend,
The Muse enjoying, and my friend.