Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Petit Vieux

The Petit Vieux

"Sow your wild oats in your youth," so we're always told;
But I say with deeper sooth: "Sow them when you're old."
I'll be wise t…

222
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Passing Of The Year

The Passing Of The Year

My glass is filled, my pipe is lit,
My den is all a cosy glow;
And snug before the fire I sit,
And wait to feel t…

224
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Parson's Son

The Parson's Son

This is the song of the parson's son, as he squats in his shack alone,
On the wild, weird nights, when the Northern Lights shoot up from…

230
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Outlaw

The Outlaw

A wild and woeful race he ran
Of lust and sin by land and sea;
Until, abhorred of God and man,
They swung him from the gallows…

205
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Ordinary Man

The Ordinary Man

If you and I should chance to meet,
I guess you wouldn't care;
I'm sure you'd pass me in the street
As if I wasn't there…

232
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Old Armchair

The Old Armchair

In all the pubs from Troon to Ayr
Grandfather's father would repair
With Bobby Burns, a drouthy pair,

The glass …

216
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Mystery Of Mister Smith

The Mystery Of Mister Smith

For supper we had curried tripe.
I washed the dishes, wound the clock;
Then for awhile I smoked my pipe -
Puff…

219
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Odyssey Of 'Erbert 'Iggins

The Odyssey Of 'Erbert 'Iggins

Me and Ed and a stretcher
Out on the nootral ground.
(If there's one dead corpse, I'll betcher
There's a '…

194
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Monster

The Monster

When we might make with happy heart
This world a paradise,
With bombs we blast brave men apart,
With napalm carbonize.

188
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Mountain And The Lake

The Mountain And The Lake

I know a mountain thrilling to the stars,
Peerless and pure, and pinnacled with snow;
Glimpsing the golden dawn o'er co…

210
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The March Of The Dead

The March Of The Dead

The cruel war was over -- oh, the triumph was so sweet!
We watched the troops returning, through our tears;
There was trium…

168
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Missal Makers

The Missal Makers

To visit the Escurial
We took a motor bus,
And there a guide mercurial

Took charge of us.
He showed us …

155
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Man From Eldorado

The Man From Eldorado

He's the man from Eldorado, and he's just arrived in town,
In moccasins and oily buckskin shirt.
He's gaunt as any Indian, …

210
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Man From Athabaska

The Man From Athabaska

Oh the wife she tried to tell me that 'twas nothing but the thrumming
Of a wood-pecker a-rapping on the hollow of a tree;

248
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Low-Down White

The Low-Down White

This is the pay-day up at the mines, when the bearded brutes come down;
There's money to burn in the streets to-night, so I've sent my…

185
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Lure Of Little Voices

The Lure Of Little Voices

There's a cry from out the loneliness -- oh, listen, Honey, listen!
Do you hear it, do you fear it, you're a-holding of me so? …

260
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Logger

The Logger

In the moonless, misty night, with my little pipe alight,
I am sitting by the camp-fire's fading cheer;
Oh, the dew is falling chill o…

167
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Lost Master

The Lost Master

"And when I come to die," he said,
"Ye shall not lay me out in state,
Nor leave your laurels at my head,
Nor cause your m…

248
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Living Dead

The Living Dead

Since I have come to years sedate
I see with more and more acumen
The bitter irony of Fate,
The vanity of all things huma…

258
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Little Old Log Cabin

The Little Old Log Cabin

When a man gits on his uppers in a hard-pan sort of town,
An' he ain't got nothin' comin' an' he can't afford ter eat,
A…

211
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Learner

The Learner

I've learned--Of all the friends I've won
Dame Nature is the best,
And to her like a child I run
Craving her mother breast

257
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Law Of The Yukon

The Law Of The Yukon

This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:
"Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane --

202
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Last Supper

The Last Supper

Marie Vaux of the Painted Lips,
And the mouth so mocking gay,
A wanton you to the finger-tips,
Who break men's hearts in …

132
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Land Of Beyond

The Land Of Beyond

Have ever you heard of the Land of Beyond,
That dreams at the gates of the day?
Alluring it lies at the skirts of the skies, <…

275