Spell of the Yukon and other verses / Robert William Service [electronic text]

CONTENTS

• THE LAND GOD FORGOT 9
  The lonely sunsets flare forlorn,
• THE SPELL OF THE YUKON 11
  I wanted the gold, and I sought it,
• THE HEART OF THE SOURDOUGH 15
  There where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon,
• THE THREE VOICES 18
  The waves have a story to tell me,
• THE LAW OF THE YUKON 20
  This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain,
• THE PARSON'S SON 26
  This is the song of the parson's son, as he squats in his shack alone,
• THE CALL OF THE WILD 30
  Have you gazed on naked grandeur where there's nothing else to gaze on,

• THE LONE TRAIL 33
  Ye who know the Lone Trail fain would follow it,
• THE PINES 35
  We sleep in the sleep of ages, the bleak, barbarian pines,
• THE LURE OF LITTLE VOICES 38
  There's a cry from out the lonliness — oh, listen, Honey, listen!
• THE SONG OF THE WAGE-SLAVE 40
  When the long, long day is over, and the Big Boss gives me my pay,
• GRIN 43
  If you're up against a bruiser and you're getting knocked about,
• THE SHOOTING OF DAN McGREW 45
  A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon,
• THE CREMATION OF SAM McGEE 50
  There are strange things done in the midnight sun,
• MY MADONNA 55
  I haled me a woman from the street,
• UNFORGOTTEN 56
  I know a garden where the lilies gleam,
• THE RECKONING 57
  It's fine to have a blow-out in a fancy restaurant,

• QUATRAINS 59
  One said: Thy life is thine to make or mar,
• THE MEN THAT DON'T FIT IN 61
  There's a race of men that don't fit in,
• MUSIC IN THE BUSH 63
  O'er the dark pines she see the silver moon,
• THE RHYME OF THE REMITTANCE MAN 66
  There's a four-pronged buck a-swinging in the shadow of my cabin,
• THE LOW-DOWN WHITE 69
  This is the pay-day up at the mines, when the bearded brutes come down,
• THE LITTLE OLD LOG CABIN 71
  When a man gets on his uppers in a hard-pan sort of town,
• THE YOUNGER SON 73
  If you leave the gloom of London and you seek a glowing land,
• THE MARCH OF THE DEAD 76
  The cruel war was over — oh, the triumph was so sweet,
• "FIGHTING MAC" 79
  A pistol shot rings round and round the world,
• THE WOMAN AND THE ANGEL 82
  An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street,

• THE RHYME OF THE RESTLESS ONES 84
  We couldn't sit and study for the law,
• NEW YEAR'S EVE 86
  It's cruel cold on the water-front, silent and dark and drear,
• COMFORT 90
  Say! You've struck a heap of trouble,
• THE HARPY 92
  There was a woman, and she was wise; woefully wise was she,
• PREMONITION 95 'Twas a year ago, and the moon was bright,
• THE TRAMPS 96
  Can you recall, dear comrade, when we tramped God's land together,
• L'ENVOI 98
  You who have lived in the land,