Tuesday, November 13, 2012

"The Rhyme of the Restless Ones"

~ Last two stanzas of Robert Service's poem

And you'll find us in Alaska after gold,
And you'll find us herding cattle in the South.
We like strong drink and fun, and, when the race is run,
We often die with curses in our mouth.
We are wild as colts unbroke, but never mean.
Of our sins we've shoulders broad to bear the blame;
But we'll never stay in town and we'll never settle down,
And we'll never have an object or an aim.

No, there's that in us that time can never tame;
And life will always seem a careless game;
And they'd better far forget ~
Those who say they love us yet~
Forget, blot out with bitterness our name.


~ Collected Poems of Robert Service, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1907