Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FULFILMENT by DOROTHY PARKER

Poet Analysis

First Line: I DO NOT SIT AND SIGH FOR WEALTH UNTOLD
Last Line: IT'S WHAT I'VE GOT.
Subject(s): WEALTH; RICHES; FORTUNES;

I do not sit and sigh for wealth untold,
It never thrusts itself into my schemes;
I shrink from all your piles of clanking gold, --
Better my sparkling hoard of golden dreams.
A life of limousined and jeweled ease
Is but a round of fathomless ennui.
Your motor cars, your pearls, your stables -- these
Are naught to me.
Better a homely flat in Harlem's wilds
Than costly living's spurious benefits;
Better a simple butter-cake at Childs'
Than caviar and stalled ox at the Ritz.
Your unearned gold, to me, is shot with flaws;
A life of honest toil I'd make my lot, --
Which really makes it very nice, because
It's what I've got.



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