Gold! gold! gold! gold! Bright and yellow, hard and cold!

I remember, I remember The fir-trees dark and high; I used to think their slender tops Were close against the sky; It was a childish ignorance, But now 't is little joy To know I'm farther off from heaven Than when I was a boy.

My books kept me from the ring, the dog-pit, the tavern, and the saloon.

I saw old autumn in the misty morn Stand shadowless like silence, listening To silence.

We watch'd her breathing through the night, Her breathing soft and low, As in her breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro.

O men with sisters dear, O men with mothers and wives, It is not linen you 're wearing out, But human creatures' lives!

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.