Robert William Service Poems

While for me gapes the greedy grave
It don't make sense
That I should have a crazy crave
To paint our fence.
...

So easy 'tis to make a rhyme,
That did the world but know it,
Your coachman might Parnassus climb,
Your butler be a poet.
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Because I have ten thousand pounds I sit upon my stern,
And leave my living tranquilly for other folks to earn.
For in some procreative way that isn't very clear,
Ten thousand pounds will breed, they say, five hundred every year.
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Sweet maiden, why disguise
The beauty of your eyes
With glasses black?
Although I'm well aware
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O dear little cabin, I've loved you so long,
And now I must bid you good-bye!
I've filled you with laughter, I've thrilled you with song,
And sometimes I've wished I could cry.
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On silver sand where ripples curled
I counted sea-gulls seven;
Shy, secret screened from all the world,
And innocent as heaven.
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The meal was o'er, the lamp was lit,
The family sat in its glow;
The Mother never ceased to knit,
The Daughter never slacked to sew;
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Be honest, kindly, simple, true;
Seek good in all, scorn but pretence;
Whatever sorrow come to you,
Believe in Life's Beneficence!
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Although the Preacher be a bore,
The Atheist is even more.

I ain't religious worth a damn;
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I bought my little grandchild Ann
A bright balloon,
And I was such a happy man
To hear her croon.
...