Ah! On the shell swept pathway my beloved cries
O’ my dear! See how quickly the life tide fails,
Cold clouds are closing over the faithful eyes
Pleading for help! Help! Help but nothing avails.
His breaths are dying, slowly kneels,
Looks at me and hears the broken sigh,
Kisses my hand, while through his mouth escapes
A dreadful word “Goodbye my love, goodbye.”
Onward the blood rolls,
I, heedless of the bursting shell,
Care my beloved who lonely bleeds
Beside the muddy path where he fell.
A tragedy is born of the war’s extremes
That wounded my heart and destroyed my dreams!
“Water! Water!” he cries, but in these desolate plains
We only have hope of monsoonal rains,
Alas! They are nowhere, as the days drift on by,
The cruel sun comes down from a cloudless sky.
Through this desolate place
I had gone in search of a trace
Of food, and was ready to pay
Whatever price that will keep my beloved alive for one more day,
I returned and saw beneath a setting sun
My beloved mumbling “My days are almost done.”
The life that he had in store
Will now be no more!
Reflecting sadly! Wandering back to the time when he came
How prepared was he to risk his soul for my fortune and fame,
I had seen in his eyes a gleam of tender light
That told he had been waiting just to know I was doing alright.
But now this very gleam is sinking below the distant peaks,
Forlorn I mourn with the tears that surrounded my cheeks.
