Abandon possessions and look for Life—
Despise worldly goods and save your Soul!²
To count a person’s wealth—you must first
Know the state of their Conscience & Health.³
When a person dies—they Clutch in their hands:
Only that which they’ve Given away during their lifetime—⁴
Within be Fed—without be rich no more.⁵
Pay: you get ripped off—Free: you get it all:⁶
The setting Sun is reflected on the windows of
The Alms-house as brightly as the rich man’s abode—⁷
Poets have more to Nourish them among their Fables
Than the rich have among their treasures—⁸
The sufficiency that comes from knowing
What is enough is an Eternal Sufficiency.⁹
‘Tis little we could care for pearls
Who own the Ample Sea!¹⁰
¹ Bias of Priene tr. original, quoted by Cicero
² The Epic of Gilgamesh tr. N.K. Sandars
³ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Lifting and Leaning
⁴ Jean-Jacques Rousseau tr. unknown, Confessions
⁵ William Shakespeare, Sonnet CXLVI
⁶ Bill Hicks, Revelations
⁷ Henry David Thoreau, Walden
⁸ Giovanni Boccaccio tr. Wayne Rebhorn, The Decameron
⁹ Lao Tzu tr. Charles Muller, Tao Te Ching 46
¹⁰ Emily Dickinson, ‘Tis Little I Could Care for Pearls