The King-Ghost girds me with his gibbering
creatures,
My dreams of old that never saw the sun.
He shows me, in a mocking glass, their features,
The twin fiends ‘‘ Might-have-been” and
‘* Should-have-done.”
Keep us, by Jesu’s ruth,
What time the King-Ghost grins the truth!
The King-Ghost boasts eternal usurpature ;
For in this pool of tears his fingers fret,
I had imagined, by enduring nature,
Thetwin gods ‘‘ Thus-will-I” and ‘‘ May-be-yet.”
God, keep us most from ill, ,
What time the King-Ghost grips the will!
Silver and rose and gold what flame resurges?
What living light pours forth in emerald waves?
What inmost Music drowns the clamorous dirges?
—Shrieking they fly, the King-Ghost and his
slaves.
Lord, let Thy Ghost indwell,
And keep us from the power of Hell!
| AMEN.
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