De Verbis Indiis

William M. Tarnowski

I mused about our topic(s) as I smoked a cigarette;
A thought came like a JUGGERNAUT: show our linguistic debt

To the age-old Hindi lingo and its relative, Sanskrit!
My verse is free-association; I am no PUNDIT.

BUNGALOW, and DUNGAREES, and GUNNY (sack) we owe them.
I shan't define SAFFRON and KHAKI; I assume you know them.

MANDARIN was news to me, a word I thought from China.
LOOT and THUG, CATAMARAN. Can any words be finer?

DINGHY, SHAMPOO, CALICO, and for the Harvard man,
CRIMSON comes from Hindi, not to mention ARYAN.

I always wear PAJAMAS and eat chocolate CANDY too.
Beasts who ought to roam the JUNGLE we jail in our zoo.

When a MOGUL want to sleep he does not seek a COT;
A CUSHY bed, some tea with SUGAR pleases him a lot.

Skinheads, like their German GURU, worship the SWASTIKA.
I'd love to PUNCH them in the snout and make them even sicker.

Now it's time to put to sleep my verbalist meander;
You will find me doing YOGA out on the VERANDAH!