Camp Follower's Song, Gomal River
We have left Gul Kach behind us,Are marching on Apozai,--Where pleasure and rest are waitingTo welcome us by and by.
We're falling back from the Gomal,Across the Gir-dao plain,The camping ground is deserted,We'll never come back again.
Along the rocks and the defiles,The mules and the camels wind.Good-bye to Rahimut-Ullah,The man who is left behind.
For some we lost in the skirmish,And some were killed in the fight,But he was captured by fever,In the sentry pit, at night.
A rifle shot had been swifter,Less trouble a sabre thrust,But his Fate decided fever,And each man dies as he must.
Behind us, red in the distance.The wavering flames rise high,The flames of our burning grass-huts,Against the black of the sky.
We hear the sound of the river,An ever-lessening moan,The hearts of us all turn backwardsTo where he is left alone.
We sing up a little louder,We know that we feel bereft,We're leaving the camp together,And only one of us left.
The only one, out of many,And each must come to his end,I wish I could stop this singing,He happened to be my friend.
We're falling back from the GomalWe're marching on Apozai,And pleasure and rest are waitingTo welcome us by and by.
Perhaps the feast will taste bitter,The lips of the girls less kind,--Because of Rahimut-Ullah,The man who is left behind!
Words in this poem
- camping n.
- Lodging in a camp.
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- sabre n.
- A sword with a broad and heavy blade, thick at the back, and usually more or less curved like a scimiter; a cavalry sword. Saber fish, or Sabre fish (Zoöl.), the cutlass fish.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Camp Follower's Song, Gomal River is in the public domain. This text is taken from India's Love Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #8197; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Laurence Hope, Camp Follower's Song, Gomal River, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/camp-follower-s-song-gomal-river.html, id L22627.
Form and metre
Camp Follower's Song, Gomal River is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 2 -A-A gomal · plainA · deserted · againA
- 3 -A-A defiles · windA · ullah · behindA
- 4 -A-A skirmish · fightA · fever · nightA
- 5 -A-A swifter · thrustA · fever · mustA
- 6 -A-A distance · highA · huts · skyA
- 7 -A-A river · moanA · backwards · aloneA
- 8 -A-A louder · bereftA · together · leftA
- 9 -A-A many · endA · singing · friendA
- 11 -A-A bitter · kindA · ullah · behindA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| We have left Gul Kach behind us, | 8 | ········ |
| Are marching on Apozai,-- | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Where pleasure and rest are waiting | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| To welcome us by and by. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| We're falling back from the Gomal, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Across the Gir-dao plain, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| The camping ground is deserted, | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| We'll never come back again. | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| Along the rocks and the defiles, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The mules and the camels wind. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Good-bye to Rahimut-Ullah, | 8 | ········ |
| The man who is left behind. | 7 | ······· |
| For some we lost in the skirmish, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And some were killed in the fight, | 8 | ····˘··· |
| But he was captured by fever, | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| In the sentry pit, at night. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| A rifle shot had been swifter, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Less trouble a sabre thrust, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| But his Fate decided fever, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| And each man dies as he must. | 7 | ······· |
| Behind us, red in the distance. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The wavering flames rise high, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| The flames of our burning grass-huts, | 8 | ···//˘·· |
| Against the black of the sky. | 7 | ······· |
| We hear the sound of the river, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| An ever-lessening moan, | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| The hearts of us all turn backwards | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To where he is left alone. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| We sing up a little louder, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| We know that we feel bereft, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| We're leaving the camp together, | 8 | ·/˘··˘/˘ |
| And only one of us left. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The only one, out of many, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| And each must come to his end, | 7 | ······· |
| I wish I could stop this singing, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| He happened to be my friend. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| We're falling back from the Gomal | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We're marching on Apozai, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And pleasure and rest are waiting | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| To welcome us by and by. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Perhaps the feast will taste bitter, | 8 | ˘/····/˘ |
| The lips of the girls less kind,-- | 7 | ······· |
| Because of Rahimut-Ullah, | 8 | ········ |
| The man who is left behind! | 7 | ······· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.