ZUTILLA.
“The day is done, Zutilla,
And yonder shines a star;
Our camp is on the moorlands,
From busy homes afar.
No church bells murmur near us,
No echoes from the town,
And o’er the lonely common
The night comes slowly down.
“Zutilla, thou art dying!
Once by the riverside
Our tents stood in the sunshine
Upon the wasteland wide.
Then thou wert but a baby,
So beautiful and bright;
I kissed thee in my gladness,
And wept with fond delight.
“Came from the leafy hollow,
A man with hoary hair;
His voice was soft as summer
When lilies scent the air:
This Book he gave, Zutilla,
Against our hour of need,
Which surely is the present;
But oh! we cannot read.
“How pale thou art, Zutilla!
I fear thy hour is come.
Is there a God of mercy?
And will He take thee home?
This Book might tell us plainly
Now in our hour of need,
Not having any teacher:
But oh! we cannot read.
“Gone, gone art thou, Zutilla!
My tears shall flow for thee,
A gipsy’s darling daughter,
The sun and moon to me.
Thy mother’s heart is breaking,
’Tis well it thus should bleed;
For nothing gives me comfort,
Now in my hour of need.
“I know not how to utter
One word of prayer to Him!
Will no one teach the gipsy,
Whose life and death are dim?
Come, come to us, ye upright,
Who walk this favoured sod,
And teach us from your Bible,
And tell us of your God.
“Yes, I am old and feeble,
And sinks life’s flickering spark.
Oh! thousands of my people
Are dying in the dark!
The gipsy children perish,
Like mine, before my eyes:
O come, O come, and teach us
The passage to the skies!
“My wakeful eyes are burning,
My soul is rocked with dread:
O England, rouse thee! rouse thee!
And hasten to the dead.
If thou wilt do thy duty,
Another light shall gleam
Upon the gipsy’s tent-tops
Our fathers have not seen.”
God (Doovel) bless (párik) the (o) brickfield (chikino-tan), boat (paanéngro), and (Ta) gipsy women (joóvyaw) and (Ta) children (chaviés), and (Ta) may (Te) their (lénti) tears (tchingar) be (vel) noticed (lel-veéna) and (Ta) help (kair-posh) come (avél) from (avrí) heaven (mi-dúvelsko) and (Ta) my (meéro) country (tem). So (Ajáw) be (vel) it (les), and more (kómi).