George Herbert’s sonnet was written in the seventeenth century before the advent of paper money but it still may have a message for our materialistic times. Herbert (1593-1633) was a clergyman and one of the leading Metaphysical poets of that era. The spelling is original. Lesley Duncan

AVARICE

Money, thou bane of blisse and source of wo,
Whence com’st thou, that thou art so fresh and fine?
I know thy parentage is base and low, -
Man found thee poore and dirtie in a mine.

Surely thou didst so little contribute
To this great kingdome, which thou now hast got,
That he was fain, when thou wert destitute,
To digge thee out of thy dark cave and grot.

Then forcing thee, by fire he made thee bright:
Nay, thou hast got the face of man; for we
Have with our stamp and seal transferred our right;
Thou art the man, and man but drosse to thee.

Man calleth thee his wealth, who made thee rich;
And while he digs out thee, falls in the ditch.