His name was Sardar Ranjit Singh,

The Mallee was his home,

With filmy silks and spices rich

From town to town he'd roam.

No caste had he: he was a Sikh.

Yet oft'he said to me;

“Before I go, before I die,

I'd leave the wide Mallee.

Once I lived in Ganga's land,

So very long ago!

And I'd returned to that old place-

I hope before I go.

"But should I die before I can

Returned to my native shore,

The ashes of this body frail

Shall go to Bangalore."

The years went by and yet it was

But once I met his wife,

And that was after he had gone...

After he'd left this life.

She spread his ash on the wide Mallee

And through sobs she made me see:

"He changed his mind towards the end,

His home was the wide Mallee."