Sorry I've been "away" for a while. Glad to be back!

Sugar and spice and all things nice,
'Tis the stuff of fairy floss.
But in the fire does soon expire,
And is counted naught but dross!

Ah! But gold be found in the dirt of the ground,
And from darkest depths is mined.
From the dregs of the crush and the torrents rush
'Tis gleaned and by fire refined.

From the mire and crud, by sweat and by blood
Each valuable fleck brutally won.
So each precious grain is counted as gain,
Though the dross is amassed by the ton!

But the world is slowly turning to a furnace that is burning,
An apocalyptic, refining flame,
And all the finery and gloss will be counted with the dross,
And only the gold will remain.

D.J. Ludlow Copyright 2002.