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Thomas Dekker's "The Happy Heart" · The Daily Poem

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  [music]
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  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Wednesday, August 12, 2026.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's poem is by Thomas Decker, Elizabethan poet and playwright.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's called The Happy Heart.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'll read it once, offer a few comments, and read it one more time.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Happy Heart Art thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers?
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content!
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  SPEAKER_00: Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed, O punishment?
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  SPEAKER_00: Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vexed,
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  SPEAKER_00: To add to golden numbers,
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  SPEAKER_00: golden numbers,
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content,
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content, Work apace, apace, apace, apace, Honest labor bears a lovely face.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then hey, nonny, nonny,
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  SPEAKER_00: hey, nonny, nonny, Canst drink the waters of the crisped spring, O sweet content?
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  SPEAKER_00: Swimst thou in wealth, yet sinks in thine own tears?
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  SPEAKER_00: O punishment!
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  SPEAKER_00: Then he that patiently once burden bears, no burden bears, but is a king, a king.
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content,
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content,
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  SPEAKER_00: Work a pace, a pace, a pace,
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  SPEAKER_00: a pace, Honest labor bears a lovely face, Then hey, nonny, nonny, hey, nonny, nonny.
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  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, I think this is a poem about peace and rest.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's very concerned with care and cares and contrasting the external torments
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  SPEAKER_00: and comforts of life with the internal ones, which seem to be their inverse.
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  SPEAKER_00: We have sweet content and punishment contrasted throughout.
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  SPEAKER_00: And while the very wealthy are racked with a perplexed mind and sink down
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  SPEAKER_00: in their own tears,
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  SPEAKER_00: the poor are Bears only the burden of want,
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  SPEAKER_00: but there is a certain simplicity to life that can assuage that burden,
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  SPEAKER_00: the waters of the crisped spring and the sweet golden slumbers that come at the end
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  SPEAKER_00: of a day of hard work.
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  SPEAKER_00: Incidentally,
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  SPEAKER_00: this phrase in the opening line,
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  SPEAKER_00: Golden Slumbers, appears in another of Decker's poems, Cradle Song.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it was from that poem that Paul McCartney lifted lines for the Beatles number,
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  SPEAKER_00: Golden Slumbers.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the original poem, the theme is very similar here.
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  SPEAKER_00: Care is a thing that can be put off in favor of rest and sleep as long as
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  SPEAKER_00: the only care you carry is the care or cares of this world.
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  SPEAKER_00: But if the needs of this life are met to excess in you, then you may not be so lucky.
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  SPEAKER_00: Adding golden numbers to golden numbers, but never enjoying golden slumbers.
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  SPEAKER_00: Or the ability to say in that fullest expression of carefree peace, Hey Nani Nani.
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  SPEAKER_00: Here's the poem one more time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Art thou poor, yet hast thou golden slumbers?
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content!
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  SPEAKER_00: Art thou rich, yet is thy mind perplexed?
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  SPEAKER_00: O punishment!
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  SPEAKER_00: Dost thou laugh to see how fools are vexed, To add to golden numbers, golden numbers?
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content, O sweet content!
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  SPEAKER_00: Work a pace, a pace, a pace, Honest labor bears a lovely face.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then, hey, nonny, nonny, hey, nonny, nonny.
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  SPEAKER_00: Canst drink the waters of the crisped spring?
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  SPEAKER_00: O sweet content!
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Swimst thou in wealth, yet sinkst in thine own tears?
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh, punishment!
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  SPEAKER_00: Then he that patiently wants burden bears, No burden bears, but is a king, a king.
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh, sweet content!
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh, sweet content!
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  SPEAKER_00: Work apace, apace, apace, apace.
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  SPEAKER_00: Honest labor bears a lovely face.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then, hey, nonny, nonny, Hey, nani nani.
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  SPEAKER_00: This has been The Daily Poem.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll be back tomorrow with another subscriber poem.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime,
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  SPEAKER_00: you can find us at dailypoempod.substack.com to listen through our back catalog
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  SPEAKER_00: of daily poems,
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  SPEAKER_00: leave your thoughts about the day's poem, or subscribe and support the show.
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  SPEAKER_00: For all of us at Goldberry Studios, I'm Sean Johnson wishing you happy reading.