Ambergris

116 AMBERGRIS O keep us in the hour Wherein the King-Ghost hath his power ! 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, The twin 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 thy fly, the King-Ghost and his slaves. Lord, let Thy Ghost indwell, And keep us from the power of Hell ! Amen.