“There ain’t no gold but fool’s gold,”
The beggar said, so blue.
“Oh, I’ve been rich and now I’m poor,
So I can tell it true
That while I was living like a king
I was in fact a slave —
Then Fortune spun her wheel,
And now I’m one foot in the grave.”
“There ain’t no gold but fool’s gold,”
The fatcat said, so blue.
“Oh, I’ve been poor and now I’m rich,
So I can tell it true
That I fought like hell and sold my soul
To finish first the race —
But at the top, I’m just as low
As down there at the base.”
Of all the princes of the world
That serve the dark beneath,
Old Mammon is the cleverest
With his sharp gold teeth
That sink into your flesh so fast
You do not know you’re stung
Before you feel the poison
Dripping off his silver tongue.
The antidote to this temptation’s
Something rather plain,
Like the good and wholesome things
That heal a sinful pain.
So carve this law into your heart
Before you’re far too cold:
There ain’t no gold but fool’s gold —
At least, that’s what I’m told.