The ticker is a tricker: in its paltry paper coils It will wind you, it will bind you firm as fate; With its whirring and its purring it will have you in its toils, And your waking will be woefully too late. While you think it's giving out it will calmly take you in, While you think you're getting rich you're getting poor; 'Twill cajole you and control you, it will promise you will win, It will draw you to destruction with its lure. For the ticker is a tricker: down below its glassy top There's a waiting and ingratiating maw; In its heartless hollow deep you will hear your ducats drop As it grabs them with its snaky paper paw. Yes, the ticker is a tricker; and the way to turn the trick Is to leave the crafty creature quite alone; If you dicker with the ticker you'll be playing with Old Nick, A game that has no gaining but a groan. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I HAVE SEEN THE SPRING' by SARA TEASDALE LET THE LIGHT ENTER (THE DYING WORDS OF GOETHE) by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER SPARKLING AND BRIGHT by CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN THE WEATHER-COCK POINTS SOUTH by AMY LOWELL L.E.L. by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE ROSES ON THE TERRACE by ALFRED TENNYSON EDGE by CHARLOTTE FARRINGTON BABCOCK |