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Gold
By Herman Melville

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