To Be Free

Greetings,

The following by Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639) is, I think, more pertinent than ever.

                                    How happy is he born and taught

                                    That serveth not another’s will;

                                    Whose armour is his honest thought,

                                    And simple truth his utmost skill!

                                    Whose passions not his masters are;

                                    Whose soul is still prepared for death,

                                    Untied unto the world by care

                                    Of public fame or private breath.

                                    Who envies none that chance doth raise,

                                    Nor vice; who never understood

                                    How deepest wounds are given by praise;

                                    Nor rules of state, but rules of good.

                                    Who hath his life from rumours freed;

                                    Whose conscience is his strong retreat;

                                    Whose state can neither flatterers feed,

                                    Nor ruin make oppressors great;

                                    Who God doth late and early pray

                                    More of His grace than gifts to lend;

                                    And entertains the harmless day

                                    With a religious book or friend;

                                    This man is freed from servile bands

                                    Of hope to rise or fear to fall:

                                    Lord of himself, though not of lands,

                                    And having nothing, yet has all.

           

Yours & His,

DED