Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HEART OF THE SOURDOUGH, by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HEART OF THE SOURDOUGH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: There, where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon
Last Line: Even as lean wolf-dog goes down will I go down and die.
Subject(s): Gold; Yukon Territory


There where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon,
There where the sullen sun-dogs glare
in the snow-bright, bitter noon,
And the glacier-glutted streams sweep down
at the clarion call of June.


There where the livid tundras keep
their tryst with the tranquil snows;
There where the silences are spawned,
and the light of hell-fire flows
Into the bowl of the midnight sky, violet, amber and rose.


There where the rapids churn and roar,
and the ice-floes bellowing run;
Where the tortured, twisted rivers of blood
rush to the setting sun --
I've packed my kit and I'm going, boys, ere another day is done.


----------


I knew it would call, or soon or late,
as it calls the whirring wings;
It's the olden lure, it's the golden lure,
ur make believe and your show;
I long for a whiff of bacon and beans,
a snug shakedown in the snow;
A trail to break, and a life at stake,
and another bout with the foe.


With the raw-ribbed Wild that abhors all life,
the Wild that would crush and rend,
I have clinched and closed with the naked North,
I have learned to defy and defend;
Shoulder to shoulder we have fought it out --
yet the Wild must win in the end.


I have flouted the Wild. I have followed its lure,
fearless, familiar, alone;
By all that the battle means and makes
I claim that land for mine own;
Yet the Wild must win, and a day will come
when I shall be overthrown.


Then when as wolf-dogs fight we've fought,
the lean wolf-land and I;
Fought and bled till the snows are red under the reeling sky;
Even as lean wolf-dog goes down will I go down and die.








Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net