Verses from Maoriland/A Song of Gold
A SONG OF GOLD
Oh, there’s great exhilaration in the bosoms of the boys Who are sailing for the gold-fields in the West; There’s a roaring time ahead though the dear old days are dead, And the bonny birds are flying from the nest; Let the old folk bide alone, for the whole wide world’s your own, And there’s yellow gold in plenty in the West!
For it’s gold! bright gold! And it’s yours to handle, to have, and to hold! Will you sell your lives, as they have been sold, For the bright, hard gold?
Oh, there’s grief and tribulation for the mothers of the boys, For the sisters and the sweethearts left behind; Ah, the good old times are dead! ah, the weary wait instead, When the ship is scudding on before the wind; For it’s well for those who go to the gay new life you know, But it’s cruel hard for them that stay behind.
But it’s gold! bright gold!And it’s yours to handle, to have, and to hold!Will you sell your hearts, as they have been sold, For the bright, hard gold?
Oh, there’s mighty jubilation in the hearts of all the boys Who are drinking in the grog-shops of the town; And the lamps flare overhead till the gay carouse is sped, And the jolly dogs have knocked their last sous down; What with billiards, dice, and gin, you can make the money spin, When you chance to leave the diggings for the town.
And it’s gold! bright gold!It’s yours to handle, to have, and to hold!Will you sell your souls, as they have been sold, For the bright, hard gold?
Oh, there’s strange inanimation on the faces of the boys; Who went gaily to the gold-fields long ago: Though the parched earth is their bed, very peaceful are the dead, Very quiet are the sleepers lying low. They are scattered here and there, does it matter why, or where, When their mothers’ hearts were broken long ago?
It was gold! bright gold! It was yours to handle, to have, and to hold!Did you sell your lives, as they have been sold, For the bright, hard gold?