Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A SONG OF SIXPENCE, by CONDE BENOIST PALLEN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A SONG OF SIXPENCE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sing a song of sixpence
Last Line: And a pocket full of rye!
Subject(s): Singing & Singers; Youth


Sing a song of sixpence
And a pocket full of rye!—
There are millions in it
For one with a business eye.

Then sing a song of sixpence
And a pocket full of rye!
Ho, the jingle of the sixpence!—
And will you sell or buy?

The world is full of sixpence,
The ways are strewn with rye—
And have you then no sixpence!
Better by far to die.

The multitude of sixpence,
The plenitude of rye!—
And yet I have no sixpence;
How poor are you and I!

I without a sixpence
And you without the rye—
Lo! Death on a gaunt black horse
Under an ebon sky.

You sing a song of beauty,
Your heart is full of youth—
Whence have you wandered, friend,
Into the paths of ruth?

I have, alas! no sixpence,
And you, alas! no rye—
You sing of life in death,
Of death in life sing I!

Ho! there, on your gaunt black horse
Under the ebon sky!
And they sing their song of sixpence
And a pocket full of rye!





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net