Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service
Robert William Servicewas a British-Canadian poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon". He is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough. His vivid descriptions of the Yukon and its people made it seem that he was a veteran of the Klondike gold rush, instead of the late-arriving bank clerk he actually was. "These humorous tales in verse...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth16 January 1874
promise debt trails
Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
oh painted shameless sit sitting woman women
I haled me a woman from the street, Shameless but oh so fair, I bade her sit in the model's seat, And I painted her sitting there.
good idle laughing leap oh ride sea wild
Oh it is good to ride and run,To roam the greenwood wild and free;To hunt, to idle in the sun,To leap into the laughing sea
against buck feeling hope song ten
It's a different song when everything's wrong, when you're feeling infernally mortal; when it's ten against one, and hope there is none, buck up, little soldier, and chortle.
fit law shall strong surely weak
This is the Law of the Yukon, that only the Strong shall thrive;That surely the Weak shall perish, and only the Fit survive.
dangerous full known lady lay man pumped
Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew, While the man from the creeks lay clutched to the breast of the lady that's known as Lou.
almost ashes bless fire glass god meet parting pipe prepare thank word
My pipe is out, my glass is dry; My fire is almost ashes too; But once again, before you go, And I prepare to meet the New : Old Year! a parting word that's true, For we've been comrades, you and I - I thank God for each day of you; There! bless yo
clock far later sadly
Ah! the clock is always slow; It is later than you think; Sadly later than you think; Far, far later than you think
open pipe
I have some friends, some honest friends, and honest friends are few; My pipe of briar, my open fire, A book that's not too new.
years old-year progress
Old Year! upon the Stage of Time You stand to bow your last adieu; A moment, and the prompter's chime Will ring the curtain down on you.
music stars night
Then you've a hunch what the music meant . . . hunger and night and the stars.
yukon littles remember
I remember little of the Yukon or what I wrote there.
children war grief
When children's children shall talk of War as a madness that may not be; When we thank our God for our grief today, and blazon from sea to sea In the name of the Dead the banner of Peace ... that will be Victory.
sea forgiving doubt
I have no doubts that the Devil grins, As seas of ink I spatter. Ye gods, forgive my “literary” sins – The other kind don’t matter.