Page:The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses.djvu/122



I paint my cheeks, for they are white, and cheeks of chalk men hate; Mine eyes with wine I make them shine, that man may seek and sate; With overhead a lamp of red I sit me down and wait

Until they come, the nightly scum, with drunken eyes aflame; Your sweethearts, sons, ye scornful ones—'tis I who know their shame. The gods, ye see, are brutes to me—and so I play my game.

For life is not the thing we thought, and not the thing we plan; And Woman in a bitter world must do the best she can— Must yield the stroke, and bear the yoke, and serve the will of man;