Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Don't Cheer

Don't Cheer

Don't cheer, damn you! Don't cheer!
Silence! Your bitterest tear
Is fulsomely sweet to-day. . . .
Down on your knees and pray…

245
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Dolls

Dolls


She said: "I am too old to play
With dolls," and put them all away,
Into a box, one rainy day.


I …

186
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Divine Detachment

Divine Detachment

One day the Great Designer sought
His Clerk of Birth and Death.
Said he: "Two souls are in my thought,
to whom I gave l…

224
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Detachment

Detachment


As I go forth from fair to mart
With racket ringing,
Who would divine that in my heart
Mad larks are singing.

189
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Dedication To Providence

Dedication To Providence

I loved to toy with tuneful rhyme,
My fancies into verse to weave;
For as I walked my words would chime
So bell-…

218
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Decorations

Decorations


My only medals are the scars
I've won in weary, peacetime wars,
A-fighting for my little brood,
To win them shelter, …

290
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Death In The Arctic

Death In The Arctic

I

I took the clock down from the shelf;
"At eight," said I, "I shoot myself."
It lacked a minute of the hour,…

244
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Death's Way

Death's Way

Old Man Death's a lousy heel who will not play the game:
Let Graveyard yawn and doom down crash, he'll sneer and turn away.
But when …

209
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Dark Trinity

Dark Trinity

Said I to Pain: "You would not dare
Do ill to me."
Said Pain: "Poor fool! Why should I care
Whom you may be?
To clow…

234
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Days

Days


I am a Day . . .

My sky is grey,

My wind is wild,

My sea high-piled:

In year of days…

149
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Dance-Hall Girls

Dance-Hall Girls

Where are the dames I used to know
In Dawson in the days of yore?
Alas, it's fifty years ago,
And most, I guess, have "g…

196
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Cowardice

Cowardice


Although you deem it far from nice,
And it perchance may hurt you,
Let me suggest that cowardice
Can masquerade as virt…

228
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Convicts Love Canaries

Convicts Love Canaries

Dick's dead! It was the Polack guard
Put powdered glass into his cage
When I was tramping round the yard,--
I could…

200
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Contentment

Contentment


Bed and bread are all I need
In my happy day;
Love of Nature is my creed,
Unto her I pray;
Sun and sky my spi…

257
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Compensation Pete

Compensation Pete

He used to say: There ain't a doubt
Misfortune is a bitter pill,
But if you only pry it out
You'll find there's good in…

198
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Confetti In The Wind

Confetti In The Wind

He wrote a letter in his mind
To answer one a maid had sent;
He sought the fitting word to find,
As on by hill and r…

218
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Clemenceau

Clemenceau


His frown brought terror to his foes,
But now in twilight of his days
The pure perfection of a rose
Can kindle rapture…

258
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Comfort

Comfort


Say! You've struck a heap of trouble -Bust
in business, lost your wife;
No one cares a cent about you,
You don't care a c…

264
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Clancy Of The Mounted Police

Clancy Of The Mounted Police

In the little Crimson Manual it's written plain and clear
That who would wear the scarlet coat shall say good-bye to fear; <…

221
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Child Lover

Child Lover

Drunk or sober Uncle Jim
Played the boy;

Never glum or sour or grim,
Oozin' joy.

Most folks thought h…

205
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Charity

Charity


The Princess was of ancient line,
Of royal race was she;
Like cameo her face was fine,
With sad serentiy:
Yet ben…

269
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Causation

Causation


Said darling daughter unto me:
"oh Dad, how funny it would be
If you had gone to Mexico
A score or so of years ago.

266
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Captivity

Captivity


O meadow lark, so wild and free,
It cannot be, it cannot be,
That men to merchandise your spell
Do close you in a wicke…

199
Robert W. Service
Robert W. Service

Careers

Careers


I knew three sisters,--all were sweet;
Wishful to wed was I,
And wondered which would mostly meet
The matrimonial tie.

229