A Bachelor

'Why keep a cow when I can buy,'
Said he, 'the milk I need,'
I wanted to spit in his eye
Of selfishness and greed;
But did not, for the reason he
Was stronger than I be.

I told him: ''Tis our human fate,
For better or for worse,
That man and maid should love and mate,
And little children nurse.
Of course, if you are less than man
You can't do what we can.

'So many loving maids would wed,
And wondrous mothers be.'
'I'll buy the love I want,' he said,
'No squally brats for me.'
. . . I hope the devil stoketh well
For him a special hell.

More poems by Robert Service

My Future

Let's make him a sailor, said Father, / And he will adventure the sea.

Robert Service

My Room

I think the things I own and love / Acquire a sense of me,

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Negress In Notre Dame

When I attended Mass today / A coloured maid sat down by me,

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Dunce

At school I never gained a prize, / Proving myself the model ass;

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