He blessed is who neither loosely treads
The straying steps as wicked counsel leads
Nay for bad mates in way of sinning waiteth,
Nor yet himself with idle scorners seateth
But on God’s law his heart’s delight doth bind
Which night and day he calls to marking mind.
He shall be like a freshly planted tree
To which sweet springs of waters neighbors be
Whose branches fail not timely fruit to nourish
Nor withered leaf shall make it fail to flourish.
So all the things whereto that man doth bend
Shall prosper still with well-succeeding end.
Not so the wicked; but like chaff with wind
Scattered, shall neither stay in judgment find
Nor with the just, be in their meetings placed:
For good men’s ways by God are known and graced.
But who from justice sinfully do stray,
They way they go, shall be their ruin’s way.
Sir Philip Sidney
Sandpapered for the modern reader by Douglas Wilson