Money

From the Newark Evening Star, November 24, 1914. By Edgar A. Guest.

I would like to have money and all it will buy,
    But I never will lie to obtain it;
For wealth I am eager and ready to try,
    But there’s much that I won’t do to gain it.
I won’t spend my life in a money-mad chase,
    And I’ll never work children to win it;
I won’t interfere with another man’s race,
    Though millions, perhaps, may be in it.

There are prosperous things that are crusted with shame
    That I vow I will never engage in.
There is many a crooked and dishonest game
    With a large and a glittering wage in,
But I want to walk out with my head held erect,
    Nor bow it and sneakingly turn it;
Above all your money I place self-respect;
    I’m eager for gold—but I’ll earn it.