TO

MY MOTHER

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Nearly all the verses that now make their first appearance in book form are reprinted from Punch, by kind permission of Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew. The rest I have taken from two little books that were published in Bombay during my last (and, I suppose, final) tour of service in India. They contained a good deal of work that was too local or topical in interest to stand reproduction, and—especially the elder, which is out of print—some that I would sooner bury than perpetuate. The rest I have overhauled, and included in this re-collection.

Readers in, or of, India have been kind enough to regard my previous efforts with favour. I hope that this little volume will find them no less benevolently disposed, and that at the same time it may not be without interest to those whose knowledge of the Shiny East is derived from hearsay.

CONTENTS

PAGE
[NOCTURNE WRITTEN IN AN INDIAN GARDEN,][1]
[TO HIS PECULIAR FRIEND WITHIN-DOORS,][5]
[VALEDICTION TO THE SS. 'ARABIA,' WHEN RETURNING WITH HER PASSENGERS FROM THE DELHI DURBAR,][6]
[A SOLDIER OF WEIGHT,][8]
[ODE TO THE TIME-GUN OF GURRUMBAD,][12]
[OMAR OUT OF DATE,][15]
[ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF EVER GETTING TO THE HILLS,][19]
[A SOMBRE RETROSPECT,][22]
[TO MANDALAY—GREETING,][24]
[SONG OF BELLS,][27]
[A BALLAD OF BUTTONRY,][30]
[THE IRON HAND,][34]
[THE WOOIN' O' TUMMAS,][37]
[CHRISTMAS GREETINGS,][40]
['KAL!'][43]
[TO AN ELEPHANT,][46]
[VISIONARY, ON THE ADVANTAGES OF AN 'ASTRAL BODY,'][51]
[SUMMER PORTENTS,][55]
[ELYSIUM,][59]
[TO MY LADY OF THE HILLS,][62]
[THE SHORES OF NOTHING,][66]
[THE LAST HOCKEY,][69]
['FAREWELL'][75]
[A HAPPY NEW YEAR,][78]
[SAIREY,][81]
[ADAM,][85]
[ELEGY ON A RHINOCEROS,][89]
[IN SEVERAL KEYS. NO. 1—'MARIE,'][92]
[IN SEVERAL KEYS. NO. 2—THE BALLAD OF MORBID MOTHERS,][95]
[THE STORY OF RUD.,][98]
[THE HAPPY ENDING ]
[ STANZAS WRITTEN IN DEJECTION,][105]
[THE FINEST VIEW,][107]
[HAVEN,][110]