Exile
Virna Sheard
 
 
Ben-Arabie was the Camel,
  Belonging to the Zoo.
He lived there through a dozen years,
  With nothing much to do,
But chew, and chew, and chew, and chew,
  And chew, and chew, and chew.
 
He wondered when he might go home,---
  And what they kept him for;
Because he hated Zooish sounds
  And perfumes---more and more;---
Decidedly he hated them
  Much more, and more, and more.
 
And why the world turned white and cold
  He did not understand.
He only wanted lots of sun
  And lots and lots of sand;
Just sand, and sand, and sand, and sand,
  And sand, and sand, and sand.
 
He longed to see an Arab Sheik,
  And Arab girls and boys;
The kind of noise he yearned for most
  Was plain Arabian noise;
(The sound of little drums and flutes
  And all that sort of noise.)
 
He leant against the wind to hear
  The sound of harness bells;
He sniffed the air for scent of spice
  The nomad merchant sells;
He dreamed of pleasant tinkling bells,
  Of spice and tinkling bells.
 
The keepers said that he grew queer.
  They wondered why he sighed;
They called him supercilious
  And crabbed and sun-dried;
(Indeed he was quite crabbed and
  Exceedingly sun-dried.)
 
But ere his wooly fur was gone
  They put him on a train---
For a rich old Arab bought him
  And sent him home again;---
O joyous day!  He sent him home;
  He sent him home again!