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, 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.

William Ellery Channing

from Earth Prayers from Around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations for Honoring the Earth. Eds. Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon. HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.