For works with similar titles, see Song.
Song—A Merry Heart.
O a merry heart! it doeth good,
And like a panacea is
Whose properties once understood,
How strange! that anybody should
Disdain this best of remedies.
And like a panacea is
Whose properties once understood,
How strange! that anybody should
Disdain this best of remedies.
For a merry heart, like a medicine,
Relieves distress, and lightens care;
A rift of sunshine that, let in
Where melancholy long hath been,
Will counteract and cheat despair.
Relieves distress, and lightens care;
A rift of sunshine that, let in
Where melancholy long hath been,
Will counteract and cheat despair.
A merry heart and a smiling face
That not a cloud nor frown doth know,
May penetrate some lowly place
Where its serene, reflective grace
Shall make the live-long day aglow.
That not a cloud nor frown doth know,
May penetrate some lowly place
Where its serene, reflective grace
Shall make the live-long day aglow.
O a merry heart goes hand in hand
With a light, elastic tread, as free
As the air one breathes of his native land,
Or breezes wafted o'er the strand
From spicy islands of the sea.
With a light, elastic tread, as free
As the air one breathes of his native land,
Or breezes wafted o'er the strand
From spicy islands of the sea.
A merry heart is the "mind-cure" true!
For it brings the strength and vigor back
To invalids, that erst they knew,
And quickly gives of the rose's hue
To pallid cheeks the bloom they lack.
For it brings the strength and vigor back
To invalids, that erst they knew,
And quickly gives of the rose's hue
To pallid cheeks the bloom they lack.
A merry heart an index is
Of that sweet peace, whose sure control
Evokes from Life's discordancies
Such wonderful sweet harmonies
As might enchant a seraph soul.
Of that sweet peace, whose sure control
Evokes from Life's discordancies
Such wonderful sweet harmonies
As might enchant a seraph soul.