Up in my garret bleak and bare
I tilted back on my broken chair,
And my three old pals were with me there,
Hunger and Thirst and Cold;
Hunger scowled at his scurvy mate:
Cold cowered down by the hollow grate,
And I hated them with a deadly hate
As old as life is old.
So up in my garret that’s near the sky
I smiled a smile that was thin and dry:
“You’ve roomed with me twenty year,” said I,
“Hunger and Thirst and Cold;
But now, begone down the broken stair!
I’ve suffered enough of your spite . . . so there!”
Bang! Bang! I slapped on the table bare
A glittering heap of gold.
“Red flames will jewel my wine to-night;
I’ll loose my belt that you’ve lugged so tight;
Ha! Ha! Dame Fortune is smiling bright;
The stuff of my brain I’ve sold;
Canaille of the gutter, up! Away!
You’ve battened on me for a bitter-long day;
But I’m driving you forth, and forever and aye,
Hunger and Thirst and Cold.”
So I kicked them out with a scornful roar;
Yet, oh, they turned at the garret door;
Quietly there they spoke once more:
“The tale is not all told.
It’s au revoir, but it’s not good-by;
We’re yours, old chap, till the day you die;
Laugh on, you fool! Oh, you’ll never defy
Hunger and Thirst and Cold.”
(Robert William Service)
More Poetry from Robert William Service:
Robert William Service Poems based on Topics: Life, Fate & Destiny, Gold, Smiling, Fool, Laughter- Fighting Mac (Robert William Service Poems)
- If You Had The Choice Of Two Women To Wed (Robert William Service Poems)
- (The sunshine seeks my little room) (Robert William Service Poems)
- Cardiac (Robert William Service Poems)
- The Soldier Of Fortune (Robert William Service Poems)
- The Enigma (Robert William Service Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Life Poems, Smiling Poems, Gold Poems, Fate & Destiny Poems, Laughter Poems, Fool PoemsBased on Keywords: cowered, tilted, pals, begone, scowled, scurvy, battened, lugged, revoir, canaille, roomed
- The Merchant of Venice,: A Legend of Italy (Richard Harris Barham Poems)
- The Progress Of A Divine: Satire (Richard Savage Poems)
- Convict Once - Part Second. (James Brunton Stephens Poems)
- Christ's Triumph after Death : Canto IV. Christ's Victory and Triumph (Giles Fletcher Jr Poems)
- Astraea: The Balance Of Illusions (Oliver Wendell Holmes Poems)