I WILL BE A MINER TOO.
Reading edition
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BY MRS. JULIET H. L. CAMPBELL.
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All around me men are delving,
Deep within the troubled earth,
Searching for the darksome treasures
Hidden since creation’s birth.
Wearying toil and ceaseless effort
Bring the buried ore to view;—
Though I be but feeble woman,
I will be a miner too!
Heart of mine! thou art a cavern,
Sad and silent, dark and deep—
In thy fathomless recesses
Spirit gnomes their treasures keep.
Gems of love, and hope, and joyance,
Bury there their flashing beam—
Wilder passions fret their prison
With the fierceness of their gleam.
Though unburnished, prized and precious,
To the enraptured poet’s sight,
As the jewels, proudly flashing,
On the brow of beauty bright.
True, unto the sordid worldling
These are gems of little worth,
Yet, for thee, high-hearted poet!
I will strive to bring them forth!
Lamp of truth, my brow adorning,
Lighting up the weary way—
I, in pain, will probe my bosom,
Bare its treasures to the day.
Wearying toil and ceaseless effort
Bring the buried ore to view;—
Though I be but feeble woman,
I will be a miner too!