These Are Things I Prize

Summary


"These Are Things I Prize" is a short poem that gathers life's simplest treasures into a single grateful breath. A speaker names what he holds dearest: sapphire skies, silent hills, the shelter of forests, birdsong, murmuring rills and the smell of flowers after rain. Each image is small and sensory, yet the poem builds toward a quiet turn, where friendship and mirth are named best of all. It closes with a wish to own these gifts through love alone.

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These are things I prize
And hold of dearest worth:
Light of the sapphire skies,
Peace of the silent hills,
Shelter of forests, comfort of the grass,
Music of birds, murmur of little rills,
Shadow of clouds that swiftly pass,
And, after showers,
The smell of flowers
And of the good brown earth,——
And best of all, along the way, friendship and mirth.
So let me keep
These treasures of the humble heart
In true possession, owning them by love.

Man resting on a flowered hillside beneath sapphire skies, illustrating the poem These Are Things I Prize

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Credits

Henry van Dyke was an American author, poet and clergyman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, widely admired for his nature verse and devotional writing. This brief poem shows his gift for pairing the outdoors with simple, heartfelt gratitude.