We rovers bold, <br />To the land of Gold, <br />Over the bowling billows are gliding: <br />Eager to toil, <br />For the golden spoil, <br />And every hardship biding. <br />See! See! <br />Before our prows' resistless dashes <br />The gold-fish fly in golden flashes! <br />'Neath a sun of gold, <br />We rovers bold, <br />On the golden land are gaining; <br />And every night, <br />We steer aright, <br />By golden stars unwaning! <br />All fires burn a golden glare: <br />No locks so bright as golden hair! <br />All orange groves have golden gushings; <br />All mornings dawn with golden flushings! <br />In a shower of gold, say fables old, <br />A maiden was won by the god of gold! <br />In golden goblets wine is beaming: <br />On golden couches kings are dreaming! <br />The Golden Rule dries many tears! <br />The Golden Number rules the spheres! <br />Gold, gold it is, that sways the nations: <br />Gold! gold! the center of all rotations! <br />On golden axles worlds are turning: <br />With phosphorescence seas are burning! <br />All fire-flies flame with golden gleamings! <br />Gold-hunters' hearts with golden dreamings! <br />With golden arrows kings are slain: <br />With gold we'll buy a freeman's name! <br />In toilsome trades, for scanty earnings, <br />At home we've slaved, with stifled yearnings: <br />No light! no hope! Oh, heavy woe! <br />When nights fled fast, and days dragged slow. <br />But joyful now, with eager eye, <br />Fast to the Promised Land we fly: <br />Where in deep mines, <br />The treasure shines; <br />Or down in beds of golden streams, <br />The gold-flakes glance in golden gleams! <br />How we long to sift, <br />That yellow drift! <br />Rivers! Rivers! cease your goings! <br />Sand-bars! rise, and stay the tide! <br />'Till we've gained the golden flowing; <br />And in the golden haven ride!<br /><br />Herman Melville<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/gold-22/
