Dross and Gold [poem by E. J. Brady]

[Editor: This poem by E. J. Brady was published in The Earthen Floor (1902).]

X.

Dross and Gold.

Life is dross, but love is gold;
So, throughout the numbered Days,
Mine to keep and thine to hold —
Be it as the Master says!

Clean intentioned; each to each
Shall a staff of Travel be,
Down the Roadway to the Beach
Of the Tideless, Timeless Sea.

Down the Roadway of the Years
Till our Web of Life is spun,
Ours, the Laughter and the Tears,
Ours, the cream of Cloud and Sun.

Some there be, who Place and Gain,
Reckon over and above;
Some there be, who Joy and Pain,
Weigh in equal scales of love.

Those shall be as they were not
At the Road’s-end, by the Shore;
These who lost, and who forgot.
Shall have triumphed evermore.

Source:
E. J. Brady, The Earthen Floor, Grafton (N.S.W.): Grip Newspaper Co., 1902

Editor’s notes:
dross = rubbish; something of little or no worth, worthless

Old spelling in the original text:
thine = (yours)