Part 7

The Lunger

Jack would laugh an' joke all day; Never saw a lad so gay; Singin' like a medder lark, Loaded to the Plimsoll mark With God's sunshine was that boy; Had a strangle-holt on Joy. Held his head 'way up in air, Left no callin' cards on Care; Breezy, buoyant, brave and true; Sent his sunshine out to you; Cheerfulest when clouds was black -- Happy Jack! Oh, Happy Jack!

Sittin' in my shack alone I could hear him in his own, Singin' far into the night, Till it didn't seem just right One man should corral the fun, Live his life so in the sun; Didn't seem quite natural Not to have a grouch at all; Not a trouble, not a lack -- Happy Jack! Oh, Happy Jack!

He was plumbful of good cheer Till he struck that low-down year; Got so thin, so little to him, You could most see day-light through him. Never was his eye so bright, Never was his cheek so white. Seemed as if somethin' was wrong, Sort o' quaver in his song. Same old smile, same hearty voice: "Bless you, boys! let's all rejoice!" But old Doctor shook his head: "Half a lung," was all he said. Yet that half was surely right, For I heard him every night, Singin', singin' in his shack -- Happy Jack! Oh, Happy Jack!

Then one day a letter came Endin' with a female name; Seemed to get him in the neck, Sort o' pile-driver effect; Paled his lip and plucked his breath, Left him starin' still as death. Somethin' had gone awful wrong, Yet that night he sang his song. Oh, but it was good to hear! For there clutched my heart a fear, So that I quaked listenin' Every night to hear him sing. But each day he laughed with me, An' his smile was full of glee. Nothin' seemed to set him back -- Happy Jack! Oh, Happy Jack!

Then one night the singin' stopped . . . Seemed as if my heart just flopped; For I'd learned to love the boy With his gilt-edged line of joy, With his glorious gift of bluff, With his splendid fightin' stuff. Sing on, lad, and play the game! O dear God! . . . no singin' came, But there surged to me instead -- Silence, silence, deep and dread; Till I shuddered, tried to pray, Said: "He's maybe gone away."

Oh, yes, he had gone away, Gone forever and a day. But he'd left behind him there, In his cabin, pinched and bare, His poor body, skin and bone, His sharp face, cold as a stone. An' his stiffened fingers pressed Somethin' bright upon his breast: Locket with a silken curl, Poor, sweet portrait of a girl. Yet I reckon at the last How defiant-like he passed; For there sat upon his lips Smile that death could not eclipse; An' within his eyes lived still Joy that dyin' could not kill.

An' now when the nights are long, How I miss his cheery song! How I sigh an' wish him back! Happy Jack! Oh, Happy Jack!

The Mountain and the Lake

I know a mountain thrilling to the stars, Peerless and pure, and pinnacled with snow; Glimpsing the golden dawn o'er coral bars, Flaunting the vanisht sunset's garnet glow; Proudly patrician, passionless, serene; Soaring in silvered steeps where cloud-surfs break; Virgin and vestal -- Oh, a very Queen! And at her feet there dreams a quiet lake.

My lake adores my mountain -- well I know, For I have watched it from its dawn-dream start, Stilling its mirror to her splendid snow, Framing her image in its trembling heart; Glassing her graciousness of greening wood, Kissing her throne, melodiously mad, Thrilling responsive to her every mood, Gloomed with her sadness, gay when she is glad.

My lake has dreamed and loved since time was born; Will love and dream till time shall cease to be; Gazing to Her in worship half forlorn, Who looks towards the stars and will not see -- My peerless mountain, splendid in her scorn. . . . Alas! poor little lake! Alas! poor me!

The Headliner and the Breadliner

Moko, the Educated Ape is here, The pet of vaudeville, so the posters say, And every night the gaping people pay To see him in his panoply appear; To see him pad his paunch with dainty cheer, Puff his perfecto, swill champagne, and sway Just like a gentleman, yet all in play, Then bow himself off stage with brutish leer.

And as to-night, with noble knowledge crammed, I 'mid this human compost take my place, I, once a poet, now so dead and damned, The woeful tears half freezing on my face: "O God!" I cry, "let me but take his shape, Moko's, the Blest, the Educated Ape."

Death in the Arctic

I took the clock down from the shelf; "At eight," said I, "I shoot myself." It lacked a MINUTE of the hour, And as I waited all a-cower, A skinful of black, boding pain, Bits of my life came back again. . . .

"Mother, there's nothing more to eat -- Why don't you go out on the street? Always you sit and cry and cry; Here at my play I wonder why. Mother, when you dress up at night, Red are your cheeks, your eyes are bright; Twining a ribband in your hair, Kissing good-bye you go down-stair. Then I'm as lonely as can be. Oh, how I wish you were with me! Yet when you go out on the street, Mother, there's always lots to eat. . . ."

For days the igloo has been dark; But now the rag wick sends a spark That glitters in the icy air, And wakes frost sapphires everywhere; Bright, bitter flames, that adder-like Dart here and there, yet fear to strike The gruesome gloom wherein THEY lie, My comrades, oh, so keen to die! And I, the last -- well, here I wait The clock to strike the hour of eight. . . .

"Boy, it is bitter to be hurled Nameless and naked on the world; Frozen by night and starved by day, Curses and kicks and clouts your pay. But you must fight! Boy, look on me! Anarch of all earth-misery; Beggar and tramp and shameless sot; Emblem of ill, in rags that rot. Would you be foul and base as I? Oh, it is better far to die! Swear to me now you'll fight and fight, Boy, or I'll kill you here to-night. . . ."

III

Curse this silence soft and black! Sting, little light, the shadows back! Dance, little flame, with freakish glee! Twinkle with brilliant mockery! Glitter on ice-robed roof and floor! Jewel the bear-skin of the door! Gleam in my beard, illume my breath, Blanch the clock face that times my death! But do not pierce that murk so deep, Where in their sleeping-bags they sleep! But do not linger where they lie, They who had all the luck to die! . . .

"There is nothing more to say; Let us part and go our way. Since it seems we can't agree, I will go across the sea. Proud of heart and strong am I; Not for woman will I sigh; Hold my head up gay and glad: You can find another lad. . . ."

Above the igloo piteous flies Our frayed flag to the frozen skies. Oh, would you know how earth can be A hell -- go north of Eighty-three! Go, scan the snows day after day, And hope for help, and pray and pray; Have seal-hide and sea-lice to eat; Melt water with your body's heat; Sleep all the fell, black winter through Beside the dear, dead men you knew. (The walrus blubber flares and gleams -- O God! how long a minute seems!) . . .

"Mary, many a day has passed, Since that morn of hot-head youth. Come I back at last, at last, Crushed with knowing of the truth; How through bitter, barren years You loved me, and me alone; Waited, wearied, wept your tears -- Oh, could I atone, atone, I would pay a million-fold! Pay you for the love you gave. Mary, look down as of old -- I am kneeling by your grave." . . .

Olaf, the Blonde, was first to go; Bitten his eyes were by the snow; Sightless and sealed his eyes of blue, So that he died before I knew. Here in those poor weak arms he died: "Wolves will not get you, lad," I lied; "For I will watch till Spring come round; Slumber you shall beneath the ground." Oh, how I lied! I scarce can wait: Strike, little clock, the hour of eight! . . .

"Comrade, can you blame me quite? The horror of the long, long night Is on me, and I've borne with pain So long, and hoped for help in vain. So frail am I, and blind and dazed; With scurvy sick, with silence crazed. Beneath the Arctic's heel of hate, Avid for Death I wait, I wait. Oh if I falter, fail to fight, Can you, dear comrade, blame me quite?" . . .

Big Eric gave up months ago. But seldom do men suffer so. His feet sloughed off, his fingers died, His hands shrunk up and mummified. I had to feed him like a child; Yet he was valiant, joked and smiled, Talked of his wife and little one (Thanks be to God that I have none), Passed in the night without a moan, Passed, and I'm here, alone, alone. . . .