Death & Dying
Epitaph on a Mercenary Miser
From Complete Poetical Works, ed. E. H. Coleridge (1912)
A poor benighted Pedlar knock'd
One night at SELL-ALL'S door,
The same who saved old SELL-ALL'S life--
'Twas but the year before!
And Sell-all rose and let him in,
Not utterly unwilling,
But first he bargain'd with the man,
And took his only shilling!
That night he dreamt he'd given away his pelf,
Walk'd in his sleep, and sleeping hung himself!
And now his soul and body rest below;
And here they say his punishment and fate is
To lie awake and every hour to know
How many people read his tombstone GRATIS.
Cite this poem
MLA
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “Epitaph on a Mercenary Miser.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/coleridge/338/.
Chicago
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “Epitaph on a Mercenary Miser.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/coleridge/338/.
Read this poem with the Codex →