The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rhymes of a Roughneck, by Pat O'Cotter

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Title: Rhymes of a Roughneck

Author: Pat O'Cotter

Release Date: December 22, 2003 [eBook #10515]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RHYMES OF A ROUGHNECK***

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RHYMES OF A ROUGHNECK

BY

PAT O'COTTER

1918

DEDICATED
TO
ALASKA

The home of the tin can and dog,
A waste of snow, ice, and moss.
The graveyard of ambitions,
The by-word for hell,
The home of the famed double cross.
Men come here for gold,
Ambitious for wealth
They stick--for they can't get away,
They dig, drink, and die,
And then go to hell,
To pay for their last sucker play--

ALASKA

CONTENTS

THE BIRTH OF THE LAND

A WOMAN, A DOG, AND A WALNUT TREE

WHEN THE WATER STARTS TO RUN

THE THROWBACK

THE MALAMUTE

UNSATISFIED

THE PROSPECTOR

IF

US FOR SAM

HOW LONG

THAT 30 U.S. ON THE WALL

FLOTSAM

TRYING

THE NEW MASTER

PROSPECTING

THE WOMAN THAT YOU PASS BY

WHY

AND STILL I LIKE ALASKA

THE BIRTH OF THE LAND

For a thousand years the Devil crouched
On the white hot flags of hell:
For a thousand years the Devil cursed
The imps that had chained him well;
For a thousand years the Devil sulked
And planned with his hell-trained brain
Of the things he'd do, when his term was thru,
And freed from the blistering chain.

He'd even the score with the men of earth,
And give them back pain for pain,
For all of the days he had felt the blaze
And the sear of the galling chain.
And it came to pass when his time was up
And hell's gates were opened wide
That all hell rang, and the clinkered imps sang
When the Devil passed Outside.

"I have served my time," the Devil said
As he halted by heaven's gate;
I have sweated in hell for a thousand years
And each year was a year of hate.
I have framed my plans for a thousand years,
I have worked out the details well
Now I'd have a place near the human race
As a sort of a prep school for hell.

The sons of me