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Cyrano de Bergerac
To sing, to laugh, to dream,
To walk in my own way and be alone,
Free, with an eye to see things as they are,
A voice that means my manhood - to cock my hat
Where I choose - At a word, a Yes, a No,
To fight - or write. To travel any road
Under the sun, under the stars, nor doubt
If fame or fortune lie beyond the bourne -
Never to make a line I have not heard
In my own heart; yet, with all modesty
To say: "My soul, be satisfied with flowers,
With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them
In the one garden you may call your own."
So, when I win some triumph, by some chance,
Render no share to Caesar - in a word,
I am too proud to be a parasite,
And if my nature wants the germ that grows
Towering to heaven like the mountain pine,
Or like the oak, sheltering multitudes -
I stand, not high it may be - but alone
-Edmund Rostand