Robert William Service

L'Envoi (You who have lived in the Land)

You who have lived in the Land,
  You who have trusted the trail;
You who are strong to withstand,
  You who are swift to assail;
Songs have I sung to beguile,
  Vintage of desperate years
Hard as a harlot's smile,
  Bitter as unshed tears.

        Little of joy or mirth,
          Little of ease I sing;
        Sagas of men of earth,
          Humanly suffering,
        Such as you all have done;
          Savagely faring forth,
        Sons of the midnight sun,
          Argonauts of the North.

Far in the land God forgot
  Glimmers the lure of your trail;
Still in your lust are you taught
  Even to win is to fail.
Still must you follow and fight
  Under the vampire wing;
There in the long, long night
  Hoping and vanquishing.

        Husbandmen of the Wild,
          Reaping a barren gain;
        Scourged by desire, reconciled
          Unto disaster and pain;
        These my songs are for you,
          You who are seared with the brand:
        God knows I have tried to be true;
          Please God you will understand.