| |
| AY, lay him ’neath the Simla pine— | |
| A fortnight fully to be missed, | |
| Behold, we lose our fourth at whist, | |
| A chair is vacant where we dine. | |
| |
| His place forgets him; other men | 5 |
| Have bought his ponies, guns, and traps. | |
| His fortune is the Great Perhaps | |
| And that cool rest-house down the glen, | |
| |
| Whence he shall hear, as spirits may, | |
| Our mundane revel on the height, | 10 |
| Shall watch each flashing ’rickshaw-light | |
| Sweep on to dinner, dance, and play. | |
| |
| Benmore shall woo him to the ball | |
| With lighted rooms and braying band; | |
| And he shall hear and understand | 15 |
| “Dream Faces” better than us all. | |
| |
| For, think you, as the vapours flee | |
| Across Sanjaolie after rain, | |
| His soul may climb the hill again | |
| To each old field of victory. | 20 |
| |
| Unseen, who women held so dear, | |
| The strong man’s yearning to his kind | |
| Shall shake at most the window-blind, | |
| Or dull awhile the card-room’s cheer. | |
| |
| In his own place of power unknown, | 25 |
| His Light o’ Love another’s flame, | |
| His dearest pony galloped lame, | |
| And he an alien and alone! | |
| |
| Yet may he meet with many a friend— | |
| Shrewd shadows, lingering long unseen | 30 |
| Among us when “God save the Queen” | |
| Shows even “extras” have an end. | |
| |
| And, when we leave the heated room, | |
| And, when at four the lights expire, | |
| The crew shall gather round the fire | 35 |
| And mock our laughter in the gloom; | |
| |
| Talk as we talked, and they ere death— | |
| Flirt wanly, dance in ghostly-wise, | |
| With ghosts of tunes for melodies, | |
| And vanish at the morning’s breath. | 40 |
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