Page:Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barrack-Room Ballads, Kipling, 1899.djvu/122

 CHRISTMAS IN INDIA

dawn behind the tamarisks—the sky is saffron-yellow—

As the women in the village grind the corn,

And the parrots seek the river-side, each calling to his fellow

That the Day, the staring Eastern Day, is born.

Oh the white dust on the highway! Oh the stenches in the byway!

Oh the clammy fog that hovers over earth!

And at Home they're making merry 'neath the white and scarlet berry—

What part have India's exiles in their mirth?

Full day behind the tamarisks—the sky is blue and staring—

As the cattle crawl afield beneath the yoke,

And they bear One o'er the field-path who is past all hope or caring,

To the ghât below the curling wreaths of smoke.