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The Markethaunters NOW, while our money is piping hot | |
| From the mint of our toil that coins the sheaves, | |
| Merchantman, merchantman, what have you got | |
| In your tabernacle hung with leaves? | |
| What have you got? | 5 |
| The sun rides high; | |
| Our money is hot; | |
| We must buy, buy, buy! | |
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The Merchantman I come from the elfin king’s demesne | |
| With chrysolite, hyacinth, tourmaline; | 10 |
| I have emeralds here of living green; | |
| I have rubies, each like a cup of wine; | |
| And diamonds, diamonds that never have been | |
| Outshone by eyes the most divine! | |
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The Markethaunters Jewellery?—Baubles; bad for the soul; | 15 |
| Desire of the heart and lust of the eye! | |
| Diamonds, indeed! We wanted coal. | |
| What else do you sell? Come, sound your cry! | |
| Our money is hot; | |
| The night draws nigh; | 20 |
| What have you got | |
| That we want to buy? | |
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The Merchantman I have here enshrined the soul of the rose | |
| Exhaled in the land of the daystar’s birth; | |
| I have casks whose golden staves enclose | 25 |
| Eternal youth, eternal mirth; | |
| And cordials that bring repose, | |
| And the tranquil night, and the end of the earth. | |
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The Markethaunters Rapture of wine? But it never pays: | |
| We must keep our common-sense alert. | 30 |
| Raisins are healthier, medicine says— | |
| Raisins and almonds for dessert. | |
| But we want to buy; | |
| For our money is hot, | |
| And age draws nigh: | 35 |
| What else have you got? | |
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The Merchantman I have lamps that gild the lustre of noon; | |
| Shadowy arrows that pierce the brain; | |
| Dulcimers strung with beams of the moon; | |
| Psalteries fashion’d of pleasure and pain; | 40 |
| A song and a sword and a haunting tune | |
| That may never be offer’d the world again. | |
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The Markethaunters Dulcimers! psalteries! Whom do you mock? | |
| Arrows and songs? We have axes to grind! | |
| Shut up your booth and your mouldering stock, | 45 |
| For we never shall deal.—Come away; let us find | |
| What the others have got! | |
| We must buy, buy, buy; | |
| For our money is hot, | |
| And death draws nigh. | 50 |
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