And This is Human Happiness!

There is a gentler element, and man 

May breathe it with a calm unruffled soul,

 And drink its living waters till his heart 

Is pure.—And this is human happiness!

 Its secret and its evidence are writ

In the broad book of nature. 'Tis to have

Attentive and believing faculties; 

To go abroad rejoicing in the joy 

Of beautiful and well created things;

To love the voice of waters, and the sheen

Of silver fountains leaping to the sea;

 To thrill with the rich melody of birds 

Living their life of music; to be glad 

In the gay sunshine, reverent in the storm; 

To see a beauty in the stirring leaf

 And find calm thoughts beneath the whispering tree;

 To see, and hear, and breathe the evidence

 Of God's deep wisdom in the natural world!
                                             ~N. P. Willis