 | A little book of tribune verse |  |
231
ARABI BEY.
I am flying, Egypt, flying,
And it's likely I shall fly
Till I can't fly any farther,
For I do not care to die.
I'm so stifled by the desert
Sand my lungs can hardly wheeze,
And I'm feeling mighty shaky
In my stomach and my knees;
Not a bite of camel's sirloin,
Nor a drop of camel's whey,
Not an orange or banana
Has passed my lips to-day,
For I'm flying, Egypt, flying,
And my present purpose is
To keep on flying till I know
I am safely out of this.
And it's likely I shall fly
Till I can't fly any farther,
For I do not care to die.
I'm so stifled by the desert
Sand my lungs can hardly wheeze,
And I'm feeling mighty shaky
In my stomach and my knees;
Not a bite of camel's sirloin,
Nor a drop of camel's whey,
Not an orange or banana
Has passed my lips to-day,
For I'm flying, Egypt, flying,
And my present purpose is
To keep on flying till I know
I am safely out of this.
From Alexandria's marble halls
To Bing Whang's cots of clay
From Snicker Eli's sandy plains
To Cairo's tufted walls,
From Thump-el-Hittem's lordly site
To Sneeza's royal halls
And still the bloody Britisher
Comes prancing up behind,
With a threat to tear my inwards out
And strew them to the wind!
Do you wonder, Egypt, wonder,
With my army round me dying,
That I'm flying, Egypt, flying
And propose to keep on flying?
To Bing Whang's cots of clay
From Snicker Eli's sandy plains
To Cairo's tufted walls,
From Thump-el-Hittem's lordly site
To Sneeza's royal halls
232
Comes prancing up behind,
With a threat to tear my inwards out
And strew them to the wind!
Do you wonder, Egypt, wonder,
With my army round me dying,
That I'm flying, Egypt, flying
And propose to keep on flying?
September 13th, 1882.
| A little book of tribune verse | |