‘Now there’re two men in on city;
the one rich, and the other poor.’

Jack Barrett went to Quetta
     Because they told him to.
He left his wife at Simla
     On three-fourths his monthly screw.
Jack Barrett died at Quetta
     Ere the next month's pay he drew.

Jack Barrett went to Quetta.
     He didn't understand
The reason of his transfer
     From the pleasant mountain-land.
The season was September,
     And it killed him out of hand.

Jack Barrett went to Quetta
     And there gave up the ghost,
Attempting two men's duty
     In that very healthy post;
And Mrs. Barrett mourned for him
     Five lively months at most.

Jack Barrett's bones at Quetta
     Enjoy profound repose;
But I shouldn't be astonished
     If now his spirit knows
The reason of his transfer
     From the Himalayan snows.

And, when the Last Great Bugle Call
     Adown the Hurnai throbs,
And the last grim joke is entered
     In the big black Book of Jobs.
And Quetta graveyards give again
     Their victims to the air,
I shouldn't like to be the man
     Who sent Jack Barrett there.


 = Richard Titus