MISER ! why countest thou thy treasure,
Thy ill-got hoards of paltry gold ?–
Feel’st thou a throb of secret pleasure,
When Conscience whispers, soft and low,
“These are the spoils which from oppression flow
“For which thy fame is sold !”
Why dost thou doat on useless ore ?
Thou hast no joy in all thy wealth:
Thou never heard’st the grateful poor
Bless thy benevolence, and cry,
While thankfulness illum’d the up-raised eye,
“Heav’n grant thee years of health !”
Why dost thou, in the glooms of night,
While loud the tempest rages wide,
Tremble with Horror’s wild affright,
And, grasping ev’ry shining woe,
To some dark nook with fault’ring footsteps go,
The useless heaps to hide ?
Dost thou not hear the thunder’s voice
Reproving Heav’n’s just vengeance speak ?
Dost thou not hear the fiend’s rejoice,
While on thy tott’ring roof obscure
The tears of outrag’d Nature, ‘whelming, pour,
To chill thy wither’d cheek ?
See thy lean frame ! thy sunken eyes !
Behold the victor DEATH ! and know
That when the wretched MISER dies
No bosom pities: on his tomb
No graceful bud of Spring shall ever bloom,
No tear of Friendship flow !
Forgotten; or, if not, abhorr’d:
Can all thy treasures, left behind,
Bid Memory thy toil reward;
Or meek Religion breathe to Heaven
One prayer that thou may’st ever be forgiv’n–
O, Miscreant unkind ?—-
Thou who would’st live belov’d, carest,
Let sweet humanity he given
By thee to e’en a foe distrest:–
But, if the child of Virtue sighs,
When Genius to thy open threshold flies,
Know, ’tis the path to Heaven.
(Mary Elizabeth Robinson)
More Poetry from Mary Elizabeth Robinson:
Mary Elizabeth Robinson Poems based on Topics: Friendship, Night, Money & Wealth, Nature, Pleasure, Spring, Cry, Health, Vice & Virtue, Fame, Charity- The Foster-Child (Mary Elizabeth Robinson Poems)
- The Lady Of Black Tower (Mary Elizabeth Robinson Poems)
- The Old Shepherd And The Squire (Mary Elizabeth Robinson Poems)
- The Sorrows Of Memory (Mary Elizabeth Robinson Poems)
- To Georgiana, (Mary Elizabeth Robinson Poems)
- Harvest-Home (Mary Elizabeth Robinson Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Night Poems, Nature Poems, Heaven Poems, Friendship Poems, Cry Poems, Money & Wealth Poems, Spring Poems, Charity Poems, Pleasure Poems, Fame Poems, Secrets PoemsBased on Keywords: tott, reproving, thankfulness, miscreant, ill-got, countest, outrag, up-raised