Would you sell your boy for a stack of gold? <br />Would you miss that hand that is yours to hold? <br />Would you take a fortune and never see <br />The man, in a few brief years, he'll be? <br />Suppose that his body were racked with pain, <br />How much would you pay for his health again? <br />Is there money enough in the world to-day <br />To buy your boy? Could a monarch pay <br />You silver and gold in so large a sum <br />That you'd have him blinded or stricken dumb? <br />How much would you take, if you had the choice, <br />Never to hear, in this world, his voice? <br />How much would you take in exchange for all <br />The joy that is wrapped in that youngster small? <br />Are there diamonds enough in the mines of earth <br />To equal your dreams of that youngster's worth? <br />Would you give up the hours that he's on your knee <br />The richest man in the world to be? <br />You may prate of gold, but your fortune lies, <br />And you know it well, in your boy's bright eyes. <br />And there's nothing that money can buy or do <br />That means so much as that boy to you. <br />Well, which does the most of your time employ, <br />The chase for gold—or that splendid boy?<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/questions-83/
