HAPPINESS

I.
How happy he, who free from care
The rage of courts, and noise of towns;
Contented breathes his native air,
In his own grounds.

II.
Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.

III.
Blest! who can unconcern’dly find
Hours, days, and years slide swift away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,

IV.
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix’d; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.

V.
Thus let me live, unheard, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/uYkUp5OFblE" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/p_s-H7RFKg4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

My project is a music video. The title of the song used is “Thoughts from the Eltingville Train Station” by my band Curious Volume. I thought that this song worked well with “Ode On Solitude” because it was written by my guitarist one night when he was waiting for the Staten Island train for an hour. The song is about things he was thinking about at the time, mostly about his girlfriend and life. This connects with “Solitude” because the lyrics are what he came up with while he was alone left with nothing to do but think. The video portion of this music video is supposed to be through my eyes in the first person. These are the closest times I get to solitude.