Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
VI. Human ExperienceThe Cost of Worth
Josiah Gilbert Holland (18191881)T
That which we call the fairest,
And prize for its surpassing worth,
Is always rarest.
And gluts the laggard forges;
But gold-flakes gleam in dim defiles
And lonely gorges.
With heaped and rounded ledges,
But diamonds hide within the sand
Their starry edges.
That sweeps the lazy river,
But pearls come singly from the brine
With the pale diver.
Unmatched by meed of labor;
And Cost of Worth has ever been
The closest neighbor.
All common good has common price;
Exceeding good, exceeding;
Christ bought the keys of Paradise
By cruel bleeding;
Upon its hills of pleasure,
Must give it all, and beg for grace
To fill the measure.
Up the broad stairs that Value rears
Stand motives beck’ning earthward,
To summon men to nobler spheres,
And lead them worthward.