Robert William Service Poems

Because my teeth are feebly few
I cannot bolt my grub like you,
But have to chew and chew and chew
As you can see;
...

Before the florid portico
I watched the gamblers come and go,
While by me on a bench there sat
A female in a faded hat;
...

From torrid heat to frigid cold
I've rovered land and sea;
And now, with halting heart I hold
My grandchild on my knee:
...

The sky is like an envelope,
One of those blue official things;
And, sealing it, to mock our hope,
The moon, a silver wafer, clings.
...

The very skies wee black with shame,
As near my moment drew;
The very hour before you cam
I felt I hated you.
...

My Pa and Ma their honeymoon
Passed in an Andulasian June,
And though produced in Drury Lane,
I must have been conceived in Spain.
...

Some deem I'm gentle, some I'm kind:
It may be so,--I cannot say.
I know I have a simple mind
And see things in a simple way;
...

Don't jeer because we celebrate
Armistice Day,
Though thirty years of sorry fate
Have passed away.
...

I cannot flap a flag
Or beat a drum;
Behind the mob I lag
With larynx dumb;
...

Tell me, Tramp, where I may go
To be free from human woe;
Say where I may hope to find
Ease of heart and peace of mind;
...