It was hot, so hot, before the eunuchs came br To dance, wide skirts going round and round, cymbals br Richly clashing, and anklets jingling, jingling br Jingling... Beneath the fiery gulmohur, with br Long braids flying, dark eyes flashing, they danced and br They dance, oh, they danced till they bled... There were green br Tattoos on their cheeks, jasmines in their hair, some br Were dark and some were almost fair. Their voices br Were harsh, their songs melancholy; they sang of br Lovers dying and or children left unborn.... br Some beat their drums; others beat their sorry breasts br And wailed, and writhed in vacant ecstasy. They br Were thin in limbs and dry; like half-burnt logs from br Funeral pyres, a drought and a rottenness br Were in each of them. Even the crows were so br Silent on trees, and the children wide-eyed, still; br All were watching these poor creatures' convulsions br The sky crackled then, thunder came, and lightning br And rain, a meagre rain that smelt of dust in br Attics and the urine of lizards and mice....