The Contented Man
By Robert W. Service
“How good God is to me,” he said;
“For have I not a mansion tall,
With trees and lawns of velvet tread,
And happy helpers at my call?
With beauty is my life abrim,
With tranquil hours and dreams apart;
You wonder that I yield to Him
That best of prayers, a grateful heart?”
“How good God is to me,” he said;
“For look! Though gone is all my wealth,
How sweet it is to earn one’s bread
With brawny arms and brimming health.
Oh, now I know the joy of strife!
To sleep so sound, to wake so fit.
Ah yes, how glorious is life!
I thank Him for each day of it.”
“How good God is to me,” he said;
“Though health and wealth are gone, it’s true;
Things might be worse, I might be dead,
And here I’m living, laughing, too.
Serene beneath the evening sky
I wait, and every man’s my friend;
God’s most contented man am I . . .
He keeps me smiling to the End.”
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"Be content with what you have” is a common Wisdom theme from all cultures. This theme relates to keeping oneself “morally straight,” because discontent can lead to envy and its consequences: fighting, theft, murder, etc. The theme of contentedness also relates to “A Scout is Cheerful.”
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SOURCE: The Collected Poems of Robert Service, Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1940, p. 526. (Originally from Ballads of a Bohemian, 1921. This poem is in the Public Domain in the USA.)
NOTE: Robert W. Service is well known for his poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” often used in Scout campfire programs. For background on the author, see this website: http://www.robertwservice.com