Living Simply

I have saved this for years - always aspiring to live up to it - often falling far short to parts of it. It was written by William Ellery Channing:

MY SYMPHONY

To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy, not respectable,
and wealthy, not rich;
To study hard, think quietly,
talk gently, act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds, to babes
and sages, with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely,
await occasion, hurry never;
In a word, to let the spiritual,
unbidden and unconscious, grow up
through the common ....
this is to be my symphony.