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Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
19
So
I
looked
across
the
countryside;
a
group
of
elms
here,
a
tufted
hilltop
there,
the
smooth
verdure
of
pastures,
the
rich
brown
of
new-plowed
fields--and
the
odours,
and
the
sounds
of
the
country--all
cropped
by
me.
How
little
the
fences
keep
me
out:
I
do
not
regard
titles,
nor
consider
boundaries.
I
enter
either
by
day
or
by
night,
but
not
secretly.
Taking
my
fill,
I
leave
as
much
as
I
find.
And
thus
standing
upon
the
highest
hill
in
my
upper
pasture,
I
thought
of
the
quoted
saying
of
a
certain
old
abbot
of
the
middle
ages--"He
that
is
a
true
monk
considers
nothing
as
belonging
to
him
except
a
lyre."
What
finer
spirit?
Who
shall
step
forth
freer
than
he
who
goes
with
nothing
save
his
lyre?
He
shall
sing
as
he
goes:
he
shall
not
be
held
down
nor
fenced
in.
With
a
lifting
of
the
soul
I
thought
of
that
old
abbot,
how
smooth
his
brow,
how
catholic
his
interest,
how
serene
his
outlook,
how
free
his
friendships,
how
unlimited
his
whole
life.
Nothing
but
a
lyre!
So
I
made
a
covenant
there
with
myself.
I
said:
"I
shall
use,
not
be
used.
I
do
not
limit
myself
here.
I
shall
not
allow
possessions
to
come
between
me
and
my
life
or
my
friends."
For
a
time--how
long
I
do
not
know--I
stood
thinking.
Presently
I
discovered,
moving
slowly
along
the
margin
of
the
field
below
me,
the
old
professor
with
his
tin
botany
box.
And
somehow
I
had
no
feeling
that
he
was
intruding
upon
my
new
land.
His
walk
was
slow
and
methodical,
his
head
and
even
his
shoulders
were
bent--almost
habitually--from
looking
close
upon
the
earth,
and
from
time
to
time
he
stooped,
and
once
he
knelt
to
examine
some
object
that
attracted
his
eye.
It
seemed
appropriate
that
he
should
thus
kneel
to
the
earth.
So
he
gathered
his
crop
and
fences
did
not
keep
him
out
nor
titles
disturb
him.
He
also
was
free!
It
gave
me
at
that
moment
a
peculiar
pleasure
to
have
him
on
my
land,
to
know
that
I
was,
if
unconsciously,
raising
other
crops
than
I
knew.
I
felt
friendship
for
this
old
professor:
I
could
understand
him,
I
thought.
And
I
said
aloud
but
in
a
low
tone,
as
though
I
were
addressing
him:
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