The lonely sunsets flare forlornDown valleys dreadly desolate;The lordly mountains soar in scornAs still as death, as stern as fate. The lonely sunsets flame and die; The giant valleys gulp the night; The monster mountains scrape the sky, Where eager stars are diamond-bright. So gaunt against the gibbous moon,Piercing the silence velvet-piled,A lone wolf howls […]

There’s a cry from out the loneliness — oh, listen, Honey, listen!Do you hear it, do you fear it, you’re a-holding of me so?You’re a-sobbing in your sleep, dear, and your lashes, how they glisten —Do you hear the Little Voices all a-begging me to go? All a-begging me to leave you. Day and night […]

Ye who know the Lone Trail fain would follow it, Though it lead to glory or the darkness of the pit. Ye who take the Lone Trail, bid your love good-by; The Lone Trail, the Lone Trail follow till you die. The trails of the world be countless, and most of the trails be tried;You […]

Have you gazed on naked grandeur where there’s nothing else to gaze on,Set pieces and drop-curtain scenes galore,Big mountains heaved to heaven, which the blinding sunsets blazon,Black canyons where the rapids rip and roar?Have you swept the visioned valleywith the green stream streaking through it,Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost?Have you strung […]

This is the song of the parson’s son, as he squats in his shack alone, On the wild, weird nights, when the Northern Lights shoot up from the frozen zone, And it’s sixty below, and couched in the snow the hungry huskies moan: “I’m one of the Arctic brotherhood, I’m an old-time pioneer.I came with […]

This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:“Send not your foolish and feeble; send me your strong and your sane —Strong for the red rage of battle; sane for I harry them sore;Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;Swift as the panther in […]

One said: Thy life is thine to make or mar,To flicker feebly, or to soar, a star;It lies with thee — the choice is thine, is thine,To hit the ties or drive thy auto-car. I answered Her: The choice is mine — ah, no!We all were made or marred long, long ago.The parts are written; […]

I know a garden where the lilies gleam,And one who lingers in the sunshine there;She is than white-stoled lily far more fair,And oh, her eyes are heaven-lit with dream! I know a garret, cold and dark and drear,And one who toils and toils with tireless pen,Until his brave, sad eyes grow weary — thenHe seeks […]

It’s fine to have a blow-out in a fancy restaurant,With terrapin and canvas-back and all the wine you want;To enjoy the flowers and music, watch the pretty women pass,Smoke a choice cigar, and sip the wealthy water in your glass.It’s bully in a high-toned joint to eat and drink your fill,But it’s quite another matter […]

I haled me a woman from the street,Shameless, but, oh, so fair!I bade her sit in the model’s seatAnd I painted her sitting there. I hid all trace of her heart unclean;I painted a babe at her breast;I painted her as she might have beenIf the Worst had been the Best. She laughed at my […]

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated […]

A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,And watching his luck was his light-o’-love, the lady that’s known as Lou. When out of the night, which was fifty below, […]

If you’re up against a bruiser and you’re getting knocked about —Grin.If you’re feeling pretty groggy, and you’re licked beyond a doubt —Grin.Don’t let him see you’re funking, let him know with every clout,Though your face is battered to a pulp, your blooming heart is stout;Just stand upon your pins until the beggar knocks you […]

When the long, long day is over, and the Big Boss gives me my pay,I hope that it won’t be hell-fire, as some of the parsons say.And I hope that it won’t be heaven, with some of the parsons I’ve met —All I want is just quiet, just to rest and forget.Look at my face, […]

The cruel war was over — oh, the triumph was so sweet!We watched the troops returning, through our tears;There was triumph, triumph, triumph down the scarlet glittering street,And you scarce could hear the music for the cheers.And you scarce could see the house-tops for the flags that flew between;The bells were pealing madly to the […]

If you leave the gloom of London and you seek a glowing land,Where all except the flag is strange and new,There’s a bronzed and stalwart fellow who will grip you by the hand,And greet you with a welcome warm and true;For he’s your younger brother, the one you sent awayBecause there wasn’t room for him […]

When a man gits on his uppers in a hard-pan sort of town,An’ he ain’t got nothin’ comin’ an’ he can’t afford ter eat,An’ he’s in a fix for lodgin’ an’ he wanders up an’ down,An’ you’d fancy he’d been boozin’, he’s so locoed ’bout the feet;When he’s feelin’ sneakin’ sorry an’ his belt is […]

This is the pay-day up at the mines, when the bearded brutes come down;There’s money to burn in the streets to-night,so I’ve sent my klooch to town,With a haggard face and a ribband of red entwined in her hair of brown. And I know at the dawn she’ll come reeling homewith the bottles, one, two, […]

There’s a four-pronged buck a-swinging in the shadow of my cabin,And it roamed the velvet valley till to-day;But I tracked it by the river, and I trailed it in the cover,And I killed it on the mountain miles away.Now I’ve had my lazy supper, and the level sun is gleamingOn the water where the silver […]

O’er the dark pines she sees the silver moon,And in the west, all tremulous, a star;And soothing sweet she hears the mellow tuneOf cow-bells jangled in the fields afar. Quite listless, for her daily stent is done,She stands, sad exile, at her rose-wreathed door,And sends her love eternal with the sunThat goes to gild the […]