[Verse 1] Within these walls of measured stone, I learned the weight of word and thought, Where my mind can freely roam, And passion bowed to reason taught. My days were ruled by ordered sense, Not whim, nor frailty’s indolence. [Verse 2] My aunt, whose judgment none could bend, Perceived what others feared to see: A mind that questioned, chose, and weighed, Unbound by meek dependency. She left me land, she left me gold, For thought, not blood, she trusted hold. [Chorus] I know my mind, I know it well For when it finds a place to dwell, be known shall all that waits to be understood in every right, untouched by false or borrowed sight. I know my mind. I know my mind. [Verse 3] My brother’s counsel softened slow, With tones of care and watchful eyes; He named my certainty a flaw, My calm resolve a thin disguise. What once was sense became unrest, What once was wit, now mere excess. [Verse 4] The doctor now with careful hand Inscribed my thoughts as signs of strain; He heard my words, yet could not stand To grant them reason’s rightful claim. For when I spoke composed and sure, They wrote: obsessive, proud, impure. [Chorus] I know my mind, I know it well For when it finds a place to dwell, be known shall all that waits to be understood in every right, untouched by false or borrowed sight. I know my mind. I know my mind. [Bridge] The carriage waits in patient black, My name reduced to ordered ink; They call it cure, they call it care, And warn me not too much to think. I leave behind both right and home, Yet take my mind where’er I roam. [Chorus] I know my mind, I know it well For when it finds a place to dwell, be known shall all that waits to be understood in every right, untouched by false or borrowed sight. I know my mind. I know my mind.
