SELECT POETRY.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 295, 25 September 1873, Page 7

SELECT POETRY.

BETTER THAN GOLD. Better than grandeur, better than gold, Than rank and titles a thousand fold, Is a healthy body and mind at ease, And simple pleasures that always please ; A heart that can feel for another's woe, And share its joys with a genial glow, With sympathies large enough to enfold All men as brothers, is better than gold. Better than gold is a conscience clear, Though, toiling for bread in an humble sphere, Doubly blessed with content and health, TJntired by the lust of cares of wealth ; Lowly living and lofty thought Adorn and ennoble a poor man's cot, For mind and morals in nature's plan Are the genuine tests of a gentleman. Better than gold is the sweet repose Of the sons of toil when their labors close ; Better than gold is the poor man's sleep, And the balm that drops on Ms slumbers deep, Bring sleeping draughts to the aching bed, Where luxury pillows its downy head, His simple opiate deems A shorter road to the land of dreams. Better than gold is a thinking mind, That in the realm of books can find, A treasure surpassing Australian ore, And live with the great and good of yore, The sage's lord and the poet's lay. The glories of empire pass away ; The world's great dream will thus unfold And yield a pleasure better than gold. Beter than gold is a peaceful home, When all the fireside character come, The shrine of love, the heaven of earth, Hallowed by mother, or sister, or wife, However humble the home may be, Or tried with sorrow by heaven's decree, Theblessingsthat never were bought nor sold, And centre there, are better than gold.