Rhymes of a Roughneck

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rhymes of a Roughneck, by Pat O'Cotter
E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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
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.