As 'Special Correspondent' or 'Our Own,'

But for God's sake leave Poesy alone;

Scratch not the surface of the mystic East

With flippant pen dipped in reporter's yeast,

For India's riddle is a riddle still

In spite of any 'Plain Tale from a Hill,'

The silent griefs of conquered tribes and nations

Are not explained in military flirtations,

Or 'ditties departmental,' trite of style,

(Any 'jongleur' could scrawl them by the mile;)