Page:The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses.djvu/87

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RHYME OF THE REMITTANCE MAN

I can couch me deep in clover, I can listen to the story
Of the lazy, lapping water—it is best.


While the trout leaps in the river, and the blue grouse thrills the cover,
And the frozen snow betrays the panther's track,
And the robin greets the dayspring with the rapture of a lover,
I am happy, and I'll nevermore go back.
For I know I'd just be longing for the little old log cabin,
With the morning-glory clinging to the door,
Till I loathed the city places, cursed the care on all the faces,
Turned my back on lazar London evermore.


So send me far from Lombard Street, and write me down a failure;
Put a little in my purse and leave me free.
Say: "He turned from Fortune's offering to follow up a pale lure,

He is one of us no longer—let him be."

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