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    Rhymes of a Roughneck
    Rhymes of a Roughneck
    Rhymes of a Roughneck
    Ebook77 pages44 minutes

    Rhymes of a Roughneck

    By Frank J. Cotter

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 26, 2013
    Rhymes of a Roughneck

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      Book preview

      Rhymes of a Roughneck - Frank J. Cotter

      The Project Gutenberg eBook,

      Rhymes of a Roughneck, by Pat O'Cotter

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

      Title: Rhymes of a Roughneck

      Author: Pat O'Cotter

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

      Language: English

      Character set encoding: iso-8859-1

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

      E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst

      and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

      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 men, on the earth below

      Have scarcely a chance to sin,

      Churched, belled and gowned, they mope around

      By precept, all sealed in;

      There is never a sin for lust of flesh

      Nor sin for a man struck blow,

      And the red blood crime of the olden time

      Has passed with the long ago.

      Hell's motley crew is scarce worth coal

      When they come to the thing called death;

      They squat on the coals with the real damned souls

      And listen with bated breath,

      To the tales of the earth, when the world was new,

      When a man had to fight for his own,

      When he took his wife at the risk of his life

      And killed for a half-baked bone.

      Now I'd build a place where a man might sin

      For the sake of his own desires;

      Make his the cause, and his the laws,

      And the penalty, mine own fires;

      Hast a place on earth to breed such men

      Each for his own deeds blamed?

      If you'll give me a place, I'll breed a race

      That hell may not be shamed.

      The God King sighed as

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