L'Envoi (The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses)

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← Prior Rhyme

The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses by Robert W. Service

L'Envoi</big>

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,
                  Hard as a harlot's smile,
                        Bitter as unshed tears.

Little of joy or mirth,
      Little of ease I sing;
Sagas of men of earth
      Humanly suffering,
                  Such as you all have done;
                        Savagely faring forth,
                  Sons of the midnight sun,
                        Argonauts of the North.

Far in the land God forgot
      Glimmers the lure of your trail;
Still in your lust are you taught
      Even to win is to fail.
                  Still you must follow and fight
                        Under the vampire wing;
                  There in the long, long night
                        Hoping and vanquishing.

Husbandman of the Wild,
      Reaping a barren gain;
Scourged by desire, reconciled
      Unto disaster and pain;
                  These, my songs, are for you,
                        You who are seared with the brand
                  God knows I have tried to be true;
                        Please God you will understand.