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!

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Harrow-on-the-Hill poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Guilt poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Felixstowe, or The Last of Her Order poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Executive poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Dilton Marsh Halt poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Diary of a Church Mouse poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Devonshire Street W.1 poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Death In Leamington poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Dawlish poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Cornish Cliffs poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Christmas poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Business Girls poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Back From Australia poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill, Sheffield poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• A Subaltern’s Love Song poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• A Shropshire Lad poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• A Bay In Anglesey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry by John Betjeman
• Free the Holy Land — a poem about Palestine by Fledermaus
• Sepukku by Ураний
• Did Shakespeare write his own plays and poems? by Fledermaus

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

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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