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Robert W. Service

Robert W. Service

Alpine Holiday

He took the grade in second —quite a climb,
Dizzy and dangerous, yet how sublime!
The road went up and up; it curved around
The mountain and the gorge grew more profound.
He drove serenely, with no hint of haste;
And then she felt his arm go round her waist.
 
She shrank: she did not know him very well,
Being like her a guest at the hotel.
Nice, but a Frenchman. On his driving hand
He wore like benedicks a golden band . . .
Well, how could she with grace refuse a drive
So grand it made glad to be alive?
 
Yet now she heard him whisper in her ear:
“Don’t be afraid. With one hand I can steer,
With one arm hold you . . . Oh what perfect bliss!
Darling, please don’t refuse me just one kiss.
Here, nigh to Heaven, let is us rest awhile . . .
Nay, don’t resist —give me your lips, your smile . . .”
 
So there in that remote and dizzy place
He wrestled with her for a moment’s space,
Hearing her cry: “Oh please, please let me go!
Let me get out . . . You brute, release me! No, no,
NO!”
. . . In that ravine was found their burnt—out car —
Their bodies trapped and crisped into a char.

Altre opere di Robert W. Service...
The Trust

Because I’ve eighty years and odd… And darkling is my day, I now prepare to meet my God, And for forgiveness pray. Not for salvation is my plea,
White-Collar Spaniard

We have no heart for civil strife, Our burdens we prefer to bear; We long to live a peaceful life And claim of happiness our share. If only to be clothed and fed
Reverence

I saw the Greatest Man on Earth, Aye, saw him with my proper eyes. A loin—cloth spanned his proper gi… But he was naked otherwise, Excepting for his grey sombrero;
An Epicure

Should you preserve white mice in… Don’t use imported ones from Chin… For though they cost you less in m… You’ll find the Japanese ones fin… But if Chinese, stuff them with s…
Four-Foot Shelf

‘Come, see,’ said he, ‘my four—foo… A forty volume row; And every one I wrote myself, But that, of course, you know.’ I stared, I searched a memory dim…
The Hearth-Stone

The leaves are sick and jaundiced,… Drift down the air; December’s sky is sodden grey, Dark with despair; A bleary dawn will light anon
Retired

I used to sing, when I was young, The joy of idleness; But now I’m grey I hold my tongue… For frankly I confess If I had not some job to do
 1
A Casualty

That boy I took in the car last n… With the body that awfully sagged… And the lips blood—crisped, and th… And the poor hands folded and cold… Oh, I’ve thought and I’ve thought…
Gypsy Jill

They’re hanging Bill at eight o’… And millions will applaud. He killed, and so they have to kil… Such is the will of God. His brother Tom is on my bed
The Logger

In the moonless, misty night, with… I am sitting by the camp—fire’s fa… Oh, the dew is falling chill on th… And the breakers in the bay are mo… The toilful hours are sped, the bo…
My Cuckoo Clock

I bought a cuckoo clock And glad was I To hear its tick and tock, Its dulcet cry. But Jones, whose wife is young
Jim

Never knew Jim, did you? Our boy… Bless you, there was the likely la… Supple and straight and long of li… Clean as a whistle, and just as gl… Always laughing, wasn’t he, dad?
Enemy Conscript

What are we fighting for, We fellows who go to war? fighting for Freedom’s sake! (You give me the belly—ache.) Freedom to starve or slave!
Prelude

To smite Apollo’s lyre I am unabl… Of loveliness, alas! I cannot sin… My lot it i, across the tavern tab… To start a chorus to the strumming… I have no gift to touch your heart…
Ragetty Doll

Rosemary has of dolls a dozen, Yet she disdains them all; While Marie Rose, her pauper cous… Has just an old rag doll. But you should see her mother it,



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