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1898
| | Being a translation of the song that was made by a Mohammedan schoolmaster of Bengal Infantry (some time on service at Suakim) when he heard that Kitchener was taking money from the English to build a Madrissa for Hubshees—or a college for the Sudanese. |
OH Hubshee, carry your shoes in your hand and bow your head on your breast! | |
| This is the message of Kitchener who did not break you in jest. | |
| It was permitted to him to fulfil the long-appointed years; | |
| Reaching the end ordained of old over your dead Emirs. | |
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| He stamped only before your walls, and the Tomb ye knew was dust: | 5 |
| He gathered up under his armpits all the swords of your trust: | |
| He set a guard on your granaries, securing the weak from the strong: | |
| He said:—“Go work the waterwheels that were abolished so long.” | |
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| He said:—“Go safely, being abased. I have accomplished my vow.” | |
| That was the mercy of Kitchener. Cometh his madness now! | 10 |
| He does not desire as ye desire, nor devise as ye devise: | |
| He is preparing a second host—an army to make you wise. | |
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| Not at the mouth of his clean-lipped guns shall ye learn his name again, | |
| But letter by letter, from Kaf to Kaf, at the mouths of his chosen men. | |
| He has gone back to his own city, not seeking presents or bribes, | 15 |
| But openly asking the English for money to buy you Hakims and scribes. | |
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| Knowing that ye are forfeit by battle and have no right to live, | |
| He begs for money to bring you learning—and all the English give. | |
| It is their treasure—it is their pleasure—thus are their hearts inclined: | |
| For Allah created the English mad—the maddest of all mankind! | 20 |
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| They do not consider the Meaning of Things; they consult not creed nor clan. | |
| Behold, they clap the slave on the back, and behold, he ariseth a man! | |
| They terribly carpet the earth with dead, and before their cannon cool, | |
| They walk unarmed by twos and threes to call the living to school. | |
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| How is this reason (which is their reason) to judge a scholar’s worth, | 25 |
| By casting a ball at three straight sticks and defending the same with a fourth? | |
| But this they do (which is doubtless a spell) and other matters more strange, | |
| Until, by the operation of years, the hearts of their scholars change: | |
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| Till these make come and go great boats or engines upon the rail | |
| (But always the English watch near by to prop them when they fail); | 30 |
| Till these make laws of their own choice and Judges of their own blood; | |
| And all the mad English obey the Judges and say that that Law is good. | |
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| Certainly they were mad from of old; but I think one new thing, | |
| That the magic whereby they work their magic—wherefrom their fortunes spring— | |
| May be that they show all peoples their magic and ask no price in return. | 35 |
| Wherefore, since ye are bond to that magic, O Hubshee, make haste and learn! | |
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| Certainly also is Kitchener mad. But one sure thing I know— | |
| If he who broke you be minded to teach you, to his Madrissa go! | |
| Go, and carry your shoes in your hand and bow your head on your breast, | |
| For he who did not slay you in sport, he will not teach you in jest. | 40 |
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