Camp Followers Song Gomal River

We have left Gul Kach behind us,

Are marching on Apozai,–

Where pleasure and rest are waiting

To welcome us by and by.

We’re falling back from the Gomal,

Across the Gir-dao plain,

The camping ground is deserted,

We’ll never come back again.

Along the rocks and the defiles,

The mules and the camels wind.

Good-bye to Rahimut-Ullah,

The man who is left behind.

For some we lost in the skirmish,

And some were killed in the fight,

But he was captured by fever,

In the sentry pit, at night.

A rifle shot had been swifter,

Less trouble a sabre thrust,

But his Fate decided fever,

And each man dies as he must.

Behind us, red in the distance.

The wavering flames rise high,

The flames of our burning grass-huts,

Against the black of the sky.

We hear the sound of the river,

An ever-lessening moan,

The hearts of us all turn backwards

To where he is left alone.

We sing up a little louder,

We know that we feel bereft,

We’re leaving the camp together,

And only one of us left.

The only one, out of many,

And each must come to his end,

I wish I could stop this singing,

He happened to be my friend.

We’re falling back from the Gomal

We’re marching on Apozai,

And pleasure and rest are waiting

To welcome us by and by.

Perhaps the feast will taste bitter,

The lips of the girls less kind,–

Because of Rahimut-Ullah,

The man who is left behind!

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Poems in English 

• For K. J., Leaving and Coming Back by Marilyn Hacker by Poetry In English
• Exiles by Marilyn Hacker by Poetry In English
• Desesperanto by Marilyn Hacker by Poetry In English
• Dear Alzheimer’s by Maria Knox by Poetry In English
• Colors Passing Through Us by Marge Piercy by Poetry In English
• Children of My Own by Marie Starr by Poetry In English
• Belly Good by Marge Piercy by Poetry In English
• Baseball and Writing by Marianne Moore by Poetry In English
• Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy by Poetry In English
• Attack of the Squash People by Marge Piercy by Poetry In English
• Always Unsuitable by Marge Piercy by Poetry In English
• about emptiness… by Marina Cecilia Kohon by Poetry In English
• A Work Of Artifice by Marge Piercy by Poetry In English
• A Grave by Marianne Moore by Poetry In English
• Woman by Manmohan Acharya by Poetry In English
• Without exile, who am I? by Mahmoud Darwish by Poetry In English
• Winter’s End by Mac McGovern by Poetry In English
• Wind by Mac McGovern by Poetry In English
• What these girl means to me by Maphoto selokela by Poetry In English
• Two Stranger Birds in Our Feathers by Mahmoud Darwish by Poetry In English

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Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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