Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Judgement

The Judgement

The Judge looked down, his face was grim,
He scratched his ear;

The gangster's moll looked up at him
With eyes of f…

243
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Key Of The Street

The Key Of The Street

"Miss Rosemary," I dourly said,
"Our balance verges on the red,
We must cut down our overhead.
One of the staff wil…

247
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Joy Of Being Poor

The Joy Of Being Poor

I

Let others sing of gold and gear, the joy of being rich;
But oh, the days when I was poor, a vagrant in a ditch! …

263
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Host

The Host

I never could imagine God:
I don't suppose I ever will.
Beside His altar fire I nod
With senile drowsiness but still
In …

241
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Home-Coming

The Home-Coming

My boy's come back; he's here at last;
He came home on a special train.
My longing and my ache are past,
My only son is b…

166
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Hearth-Stone

The Hearth-Stone

The leaves are sick and jaundiced, they
Drift down the air;

December's sky is sodden grey,
Dark with despair;

208
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Hat

The Hat

In city shop a hat I saw
That to my fancy seemed to strike,
I gave my wage to buy the straw,
And make myself a one the like.

188
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Healer

The Healer

"Tuberculosis should not be,"
The old professor said.
"If folks would hearken unto me
'Twould save a million dead.
Nay…

266
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Great Recall

The Great Recall

I've wearied of so many things
Adored in youthful days;
Music no more my spirit wings,
E'en when Master play.
Fo…

184
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Hand

The Hand

Throughout my life I see
A guiding hand;
The pitfalls set for me
Were grimly planned.
But always when and where

235
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The God Of Common-Sense

The God Of Common-Sense

My Daddy used to wallop me for every small offense:
"Its takes a hair-brush back," said he, "to teach kids common-sense."

231
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Ghosts

The Ghosts

Said Lenin's ghost to Stalin's ghost:
"Mate with me in the Tomb;
Then day by day the rancid host
May gaze upon our doom.

243
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Fool

The Fool

"But it isn't playing the game," he said,
And he slammed his books away;

"The Latin and Greek I've got in my head
Will d…

256
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Farmer's Daughter

The Farmer's Daughter

The Rector met a little lass
Who led a heifer by a rope.
Said he: "Why don't you go to Mass?
Do you not want to ple…

253
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Enigma

The Enigma

The Sergeant of a Highland Reg-
Iment was drilling of his men;
With temper notably on edge
He blest them every now and then.

153
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Duel

The Duel

In Pat Mahoney's booze bazaar the fun was fast and free,
And Ragtime Billy spanked the baby grand;
While caroling a saucy song was Montr…

237
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Dream

The Dream

Said Will: "I'll stay and till the land."
Said Jack: "I'll sail the sea."
So one went forth kit-bag in hand,
The other ploughed…

247
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Decision

The Decision

Said she: 'Although my husband Jim
Is with his home content,

I never should have married him,
We are so different. <…

217
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Dauber

The Dauber

In stilly grove beside the sea
He mingles colours, measures space;
A bronze and breezy man is he,


Yet peace is…

184
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Cuckoo

The Cuckoo

No lyric line I ever penned
The praise this parasitic bird;
And what is more, I don't intend
To write a laudatory word,

244
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Convalescent

The Convalescent

. . . So I walked among the willows very quietly all night;
There was no moon at all, at all; no timid star alight;
There was no…

222
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Cow-Juice Cure

The Cow-Juice Cure

The clover was in blossom, an' the year was at the June,
When Flap-jack Billy hit the town, likewise O'Flynn's saloon.
The fro…

228
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Contented Man

The Contented Man

"How good God is to me," he said;
"For have I not a mansion tall,
With trees and lawns of velvet tread,
And happy helpe…

198
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

The Christmas Tree

The Christmas Tree

In the dark and damp of the alley cold,
Lay the Christmas tree that hadn't been sold;
By a shopman dourly thrown outside;

233