Versos English Thomas Hood HER MORAL.

English poem

HER MORAL.

by (1799–1845)

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Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold, Molten, graven, hammer'd and roll'd; Heavy to get, and light to hold; Hoarded, barter'd, bought, and sold, Stolen, borrow'd, squander'd, doled: Spurn'd by the young, but hugg'd by the old To the very verge of the churchyard mould; Price of many a crime untold;

Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold: Good or bad a thousand-fold! How widely its agencies vary— To save—to ruin—to curse—to bless— As even its minted coins express, Now stamp'd with the image of Good Queen Bess, And now of a Bloody Mary.