| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Songs of Joy | | By William H. Davies (1871–1940) |
| | | SING out, my Soul, thy songs of joy; | |
| Such as a happy bird will sing | |
| Beneath a Rainbow’s lovely arch | |
| In early spring. | |
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| Think not of Death in thy young days; | 5 |
| —Why shouldst thou that grim tyrant fear? | |
| And fear him not when thou art old, | |
| And he is near. | |
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| Strive not for gold, for greedy fools | |
| Measure themselves by poor men never; | 10 |
| Their standard, still being richer men, | |
| Makes them poor ever. | |
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| Train up thy mind to feel content; | |
| What matters then how low thy store? | |
| What we enjoy, and not possess, | 15 |
| Makes rich or poor. | |
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| Fill’d with sweet thought, then happy I | |
| Take not my state from others’ eyes; | |
| What ’s in my mind—not on my flesh | |
| Or theirs—I prize. | 20 |
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| Sing, happy Soul, thy songs of joy; | |
| Such as a Brook sings in the wood, | |
| That all night has been strengthen’d by | |
| Heaven’s purer flood. | | | | |
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