Robert William Service

CLANCY OF THE MOUNTED POLICE
In the little Crimson Manual it's written plain and clear
That who would wear the scarlet coat shall say good-bye to fear ;
Shall be a guardian of the right, a sleuth-hound of the trail -
In the little Crimson Manual ther's no such word as "fail" -
Shall follow on though heavens fall, or hell's top-turrets freeze,
Half round the world, if need there be, on bleeding hands and knees.
(...)
And so they sweep the solitudes, free men from all the earth ;
And so they sentinel the woods, the wilds that know their worth ;
And so they scour the startled plains and mock at hurt and pain,
And read their Crimson Manual, and find their duty plain.