LORD OF HIMSELF.
How happy is he born or taught
Who serveth not another's will;
Whose armor is his honest thought,
And simple truth his highest skill:
Whose passions not his masters are;
Whose soul is still prepared for death—
Not tied unto the world with care
Of prince's ear or vulgar breath;
Who hath his ear from rumors freed;
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great;
Who envies none whom chance doth raise,
Or vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given with praise,
Nor rules of state but rules of good;
Who God doth late and early pray
More of his grace than gifts to lend,
And entertains the harmless day
With a well-chosen book or friend—
This man is free from servile bands
Of hope to rise or fear to fall:
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And, having nothing, yet hath all.
Sir Henry Wotton.