[Skip Navigation]

Poetry Archives

A continuing selection of classic and contemporary poems.

The Tramps

Robert Service

Can you recall, dear comrade, when we tramped God’s land together,
    And we sang the old, old Earth-song, for our youth was very sweet;
When we drank and fought and lusted, as we mocked at tie and tether,
    Along the road to Anywhere, the wide world at our feet—

Along the road to Anywhere, when each day had its story;
    When time was yet our vassal, and life’s jest was still unstale;
When peace unfathomed filled our hearts as, bathed in amber glory,
    Along the road to Anywhere we watched the sunsets pale?

Alas! the road to Anywhere is pitfalled with disaster;
    There’s hunger, want, and weariness, yet O we loved it so!
As on we tramped exultantly, and no man was our master,
    And no man guessed what dreams were ours, as, swinging heel and toe,
We tramped the road to Anywhere, the magic road to Anywhere,
The tragic road to Anywhere, such dear, dim years ago.
Online text © 1998-2008 Poetry X. All rights reserved.
From The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses
Add Keyword Tags

Separate each tag with a space. You may add as many tags as you'd like to each poem.

What are tags?
Tags, sometimes called “folksonomies,” are words that describe or categorize a poem, like “20th century modernism” or “Italian sonnet”. Tags can help you find poems that have something in common, based on how other people classify them.

More Info

This site will work and look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any Internet device.