Robert William Service Poems

A Wintertide we had been wed
When Jan went off to sea;
And now the laurel rose is red
And I wait on the quay.
...

I am a Day . . .
My sky is grey,
My wind is wild,
My sea high-piled:
...

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

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

I haled me a woman from the street,
Shameless, but, oh, so fair!
I bade her sit in the model's seat
And I painted her sitting there.
...

Another day of toil and strife,
Another page so white,
Within that fateful Log of Life
That I and all must write;
...

You may talk o' your lutes and your dulcimers fine,
Your harps and your tabors and cymbals and a',
But here in the trenches jist gie me for mine
The wee penny whistle o' Sandy McGraw.
...

Dusting my books I spent a busy day:
Not ancient toes, time-hallowed and unread,
but modern volumes, classics in their way,
whose makers now are numbered with the dead;
...

Would it be loss or gain
To hapless human-kind
If we could feel no pain
Of body or of mind?
...

Said I: "See yon vast heaven shine,--
What earthly sight diviner?
Before such radiant Design
Why doubt Designer?"
...