“Bounty”

Bounty

I think of Scrooge McDuck, his cambered chest

where all his wealth and happiness are stored;

and think of those who’d just as soon divest

than profit from the bounty of the hoard.

O what meanness to reject these very

heaps of coruscating jewels and crowns

richly tumbling from the reliquary

and meet profusion with reproving frowns.

For bounty’s sake, let’s change the metaphor

and think of Lily, Pamela or Jane

who brim munificent with passion’s ore

and draw the sacred from the mere profane—

and wonder who in soundness could malign

such lovely words embreasted in the line.