Torn souls that once were men—flayed, bleeding souls,
Souls drenched with gore from gangrenous bullet-holes,
Green, sightless eyes—and blood, and blood, and blood!
Lo! Gunga Din! He cometh smeared with gore
That dribbles from cleft forehead to the skin
Of putrid drink, one black foot on Hell’s shore,
One in the slime. A flayed hand toward him grasps,
And one blind, shattered head that bleeds for sin
Bloats forth its purple tongue in strangling gasps.