"THE LOCKET" From out her shabby rain-coat pocket The little Jew girl in the train Produced a dinted silver locket With pasted in it portraits twain. "These are my parents, sir" she said; "Or were, for now I fear they're dead. "I know to Belsen they were sent; I never heard of them again. So many were like that - they went, Our woeful quest was all in vain. I was in London with a friend, Or I, too, would have shared their end. "They could have got away, I'm told, And joined me here in Marylebne, But Grannie was so sick and old, They could not leave her there alone. When they were seized she cried and cried: Thank God! 'Twas in her bed she died. "How did they die? I cannot bear To think of that - it crazes me. My mother was so sweet, so fair; My father handsome as you see . . . I'm sure no daughter ever had More lovely parents . . . Yes, it's sad. "But for their loss I shall not grieve; I'll hug the hope they still survive; Oh, I must make myself believe Somehow, somewhere they're still alive... "Well, that's my only souvenir, A locket stained with many a tear."
Author
This author is the the British-Canadian writer of Yukon poetry. For the British historian of modern Russia, see Robert Service. Robert William Service was born into a Scottish family while they were living in Preston, England. He was schooled in Scotland, attending Hillhead High School in Glasgow. He moved to Canada at the age of 21 when he gave up his job working in a Glasgow bank, and traveled to Vancouver Island, British Columbia with his Buffalo Bill outfit and dreams of becoming a cowboy. He drifted around western North America, taking and quitting a series of jobs. Hired by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, he worked in a number of its branches before being posted to the branch in Whitehorse (not Dawson) in the Yukon Territory in 1904, six years after the Klondike Gold Rush. Inspired by the vast beauty of the Yukon wilderness, Service began writing poetry about the things he saw. Conversations with locals led him to write about things he hadn't seen, many of which hadn't actually happened, as well. He did not set foot in Dawson City until 1908, arriving in the Klondike ten years after the Gold Rush, but his renown as a writer was already established. For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert\_W.\_Service.
