Explore "Of a Night in War-Time" by Thomas Burke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Upon a night I sat behind my shop, / In happy talk with casual company: / The upright Ho Ling, the grave Cheng Huan, / And the round-bodied and amiable Sway Too, of my own country; / Together with the maid of the golden curls, / A sad-eyed seaman from Malay, / And two pale Englishmen, Bill Hawkins and Jack Brown.
We sat beneath the lantern, and drank our tchah in fellowship, / And spoke of this and of that. / And the moon rose and mated with the soft smells of my store, / And brought forth a spirit that spoke to us / Of things forgotten or lost, or long despaired of.
Friendship bound us together, and we sat late, / Glad of the night, and each glad of his companions; / While men in another land / Wrought horrors upon their fellows beneath this moon, / Drunk with the wicked words of the wicked lords of men.