Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/144

 138 THE GOLD NUGGET.

A mother bends before its arch Ah, pure and sinless love,

Thine is the fairest glance of all, Fit for the world above !

��THE GOLD NUGGET.

WHAT shining possibilities Of coin and link Glitter and blink, O yellow gold ! Within thy hold, For all thy dull humility.

Only the torment of the mill

Has tried thy worth ;

O magic earth !

Soon shalt thou find

How mortal mind Holds mastery o er matter still.

Then out from torture hot and slow,

From fire and wheel,

From rasping steel,

From rolling band,

And cunning hand, Thy better self shall rise and glow.

Art thou a ring, sought for a bride Love s golden lock, Which change shall mock?

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