We talked of yesteryears, of trails and treasure, Of men who played the game and lost or won; Of mad stampedes, of toil beyond all measure, Of camp-fire comfort when the day was done....
We've finished up the filthy war; We've won what we were fighting for . . . (Or have we? I don't know). But anyway I have my wish: I'm back upon the old Boul' Mich', And how my heart's aglow!...
You who have lived in the Land, You who have trusted the trail; You who are strong to withstand, You who are swift to assail; Songs have I sung to beguile, Vintage of desperate years...
It's cruel cold on the water-front, silent and dark and drear; Only the black tide weltering, only the hissing snow; And I, alone, like a storm-tossed wreck, on this night of the glad New Year,...
When Chewed-ear Jenkins got hitched up to Guinneyveer McGee, His flowin' locks, ye recollect, wuz frivolous an' free; But in old Hymen's jack-pot, it's a most amazin' thing,...
He's the man from Eldorado, and he's just arrived in town, In moccasins and oily buckskin shirt. He's gaunt as any Indian, and pretty nigh as brown; He's greasy, and he smells of sweat and dirt....
Me and Ed and a stretcher Out on the nootral ground. (If there's one dead corpse, I'll betcher There's a 'undred smellin' around.) Me and Eddie O'Brian, Both of the R. A. M. C....
Gold! We leapt from our benches. Gold! We sprang from our stools. Gold! We wheeled in the furrow, fired with the faith of fools. Fearless, unfound, unfitted, far from the night and the cold,...
It's mighty lonesome-like and drear. Above the Wild the moon rides high, And shows up sharp and needle-clear The emptiness of earth and sky; No happy homes with love a-glow;...