Best to Be Blithe

Full oft I mus and hes in thocht

How this fals warld is ay on flocht,

Quhair nothing ferme is nor degest;

And quhen I haif my mynd all socht,

For to be blyth me think it best.

This warld evir dois flicht and vary;

Fortoun sa fast hir quheill dois cary,

Na tyme bot turne can it tak rest,

For quhois fals change suld none be sary;

For to be blyth me thynk it best.

Wald man considdir in mynd rycht weill,

Or Fortoun on him turn hir quheill,

That erdly honour may nocht lest,

His fall les panefull he suld feill;

For to be blyth me think it best.

Quha with this warld dois warsill and stryfe,

And dois his dayis in dolour dryfe,

Thocht he in lordschip be possest,

He levis bot ane wrechit lyfe;

For to be blyth me think it best.

Of wardlis gud and grit riches,

Quhat fruct hes man but mirines?

Thocht he this warld had eist and west,

All wer povertie but glaidnes;

For to be blyth me thynk it best.

Quho suld for tynsall drowp or de

For thyng that is bot vanitie,

Sen to the lyfe that evir dois lest

Heir is bot twynklyng of ane ee?

For to be blyth me think it best.

Had I for warldis unkyndnes

In hairt tane ony havines,

Or fro my plesans bene opprest,

I had bene deid lang syne, dowtles;

For to be blyth me think it best.

How evir this warld do change and vary,

Lat us in hairt nevirmoir be sary,

Bot evir be reddy and addrest

To pas out of this frawdfull fary;

For to be blyth me think it best.

William Dunbar

WiUiam Dunbar was born, probably in East Lothian, between 1450 and 1460. He entered the University of St. Andrews in 1475, and took his full degree in 1479. In eariy life, according to his own account, he went about from Berwick to Dover, and passed over to Calais and Picardy, preaching and alms-gathering as a Franciscan noviciate ; but he became dissatisficd with this life and does not seem to have taken the vows of the order. It has been inferred from allusions in his verse that he was for some years empioyed in connection with foreign embassies. Toward tiie close of the century we find him in attendance on the Scotch Court, a poet with an established reputation, and a continual suitor for piace. In 1500 he received from the king (James IV) a pension of ^io , raised by degrees, during the next ten years to ;^8o ? then a respectable annuity; but he never obtained the Church promotion, to which on somewhat irrelevant grounds he constantly laid claim.

More poems from same author

A Dream Discretion in Taking [In taking sowld discretioun be] In a Secret Place [Ye brek my hart, my bony ane] Of James Dog [Madame, ye heff a dangerous dog] Rule of Oneself [He rewllis weill that weill himself can gyd]

Best to Be Blithe

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