USA

lanre_brown@yahoo.com

A MODEST LIFE

A modest life is enough for me.
To be well fed and clad is not my dream;
Since I have lived thus, I am happy.
This is the way, "To be poor and yet not
resent";
Loyal and filial, reconciled and true
This is the way of life.
As for other matters, Let them come as
They will:
In this world, calm and free.

All my days are spent in this manner,
What noble reslove rests in me.
You may loathe a poor and humble life:
You cannot pull it by the hand.
As I waited up for the dawn,
The mindless cuckoo makes my
Disappointment more keen.
As for other matters, Let them come as they will:
In this world, calm and free.

O contradiction, O necessity
If autumn is short, Let spring be plentiful.
I weather the storm, poor but untarnished.
Will a man of spirit yield his will?
Imbued with public spirit, I forget myself,
To die in the humbleness of life.
Although my days are spent in this manner.
Penury harasses more than one man.
As other matters, Let them come as
They will:
In this world, calm and free.

"To Mother...the brook, that penetrates all the crevices of understanding, who still keeps understanding..."

© Copyright, 1999, Lanre Brown.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.