{
 "id": "robert-w-service/the-reckoning",
 "title": "The Reckoning",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Robert W. Service",
 "poet_slug": "robert-w-service",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Songs of a Sourdough",
 "book_slug": "songs-of-a-sourdough",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 17,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1907,
  "venue": "Songs of a Sourdough (1907)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/songsofsourdoug00serv"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/robert-w-service_songs-of-a-sourdough",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25546",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsofsourdoug00serv"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 21,
  "n_stanzas": 3,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 67,
  "max_indent": 6
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "It’s fine to have a blowout in a fancy restaurant,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With terrapin and canvasback and all the wine you want;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To enjoy the flowers and music, watch the pretty women pass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smoke a choice cigar, and sip the wealthy water in your glass;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It’s bully in a high-toned joint to eat and drink your fill,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But it’s quite another matter when you",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pay the bill.",
    "indent": 6
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It’s great to go out every night on fun or pleasure bent,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To wear your glad rags always, and to never save a cent;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To drift along regardless, have a good time every trip;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To hit the high spots sometimes, and to let your chances slip;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To know you’re acting foolish, yet to go on fooling still,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till Nature calls a showdown, and you",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pay the bill.",
    "indent": 6
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Time has got a little bill⁠—get wise while yet you may,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For the debit side’s increasing in a most alarming way;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The things you had no right to do, the things you should have done,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They’re all put down: it’s up to you to pay for every one.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So eat, drink, and be merry, have a good time if you will,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But God help you when the time comes, and you",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Foot the bill.",
    "indent": 6
   }
  ]
 ]
}