Desiderata.

No matter how familiar you are with this lovely bit of prose, it’s always worth reading again. I hope you enjoy its timeless wisdom.

DESIDERATA.

Desiderata means in Latin ‘Things to be desired’

The author of Desiderata was Max Ehrmann, a poet and lawyer from Indiana, in the United States, who lived from 1872 to 1945. It has been reported that Desiderata was inspired by an urge that Ehrmann wrote about in his diary: He wrote that he would like to leave a humble gift of some poetry that caught a noble mood. Sometime around 1959, the Reverend Frederick Kates who was the rector of St Paul’s Church in Baltimore used the poem in a collection of material for his congregation. Apparently he had come across a copy of Desiderata some time previously.

At the top of the handouts he had prepared were the words Old Saint Paul’s Church Baltimore 1692.  The church had been founded in 1692. It was because of this that in the years that followed a myth sprang up that suggested that the poem had been found in the church in 1692. This has since added to the charm and mystic of the poems origins and it later became popular during the 1960s peace movement.

 

 

                           Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
© Max Ehrmann 1927