Robert W. Service,
The Wood-Cutter
“ See! from far up the valley a rapier pierces the night, The white search-ray of a steamer. Swiftly, serenely it nears;A proud, white, alien presence, a glittering galley of light, Confident-poised, triumphant, freighted with hopes and fears.I look as one looks on a vision; I see it pulsating by; I glimpse joy-radiant faces; I hear the thresh of the wheel.Hoof-like my heart beats a moment; then silence swoops from the sky. Darkness is piled upon darkness. God only knows how I feel. ”
