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.