The keen wind scarred his naked breast.

I questioned him, and all the while

The quiet of a heart at rest

Shone in his secret patient smile.

Yes, he had come from hot Bengal,

From scorching plains to peaks of ice;

Took what was given as chance might fall,

And begged his little dole of rice.

“And have you friends, or any child?

Or any home?” He shook his head,