In Memory of
WALTER DECIES CORBYN
Late Captain 141st Punjab Cavalry
The Gurgaon Rissala, that is. Go
on, Sahib.
Treacherously shot near this place by
The connivance of the late
HENDRIK DIRK UYS
A Minister of God
Who thrice took the oath of neutrality
And Piet his son,
This little work
Aha! This is the first jest. The Sahib should
see this little work!
Was accomplished in partial
And inadequate recognition of their loss
By some men who loved him
Si monumentum requiris circumspice
That is the second jest. It signifies that those
who would desire to behold a proper memorial to Kurban
Sahib must look out at the house. And, Sahib,
the house is not there, nor the well, nor the big tank
which they call dams, nor the little fruit-trees,
nor the cattle. There is nothing at all, Sahib,
except the two trees withered by the fire. The
rest is like the desert here—or my hand—or
my heart. Empty, Sahib—all empty!
“THEIR LAWFUL OCCASIONS”
When the water’s countenance
Blurrs ’twixt glance and second
glance;
When the tattered smokes forerun
Ashen ’neath a silvered sun;
When the curtain of the haze
Shuts upon our helpless ways—
Hear the
Channel Fleet at sea;
Libera
nos domine!
When the engines’ bated pulse
Scarcely thrills the nosing hulls;
When the wash along the side
Sounds, a sudden, magnified
When the intolerable blast
Marks each blindfold minute passed.
When the fog-buoy’s squattering
flight
Guides us through the haggard night;
When the warning bugle blows;
When the lettered doorways close;
When our brittle townships press,
Impotent, on emptiness.
When the unseen leadsmen lean
Questioning a deep unseen;
When their lessened count they tell
To a bridge invisible;
When the hid and perilous
Cliffs return our cry to us.
When the treble thickness spread
Swallows up our next-ahead;
When her siren’s frightened whine
Shows her sheering out of line;
When, her passage undiscerned,
We must turn where she has turned—
Hear the
Channel Fleet at sea;
Libera
nos Domine!
“THEIR LAWFUL OCCASIONS”
... “And a security for such
as pass on the seas upon
their lawful occasions.”—Navy
Prayer.
Disregarding the inventions of the Marine Captain,
whose other name is Gubbins, let a plain statement
suffice.
