AMBERGRIS 
43 
 
 
 
FROM THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST 
 
The Rosicrucian 
 
I see the centuries wax and wane. 
I know their mystery of pain, 
The secrets of the living fire, 
The key of life :  I live :  I reign : 
For I am master of desire. 
 
Silent, I pass amid the folk 
Caught in its mesh, slaves to its yoke. 
Silent, unknown, I work and will 
Redemption, godhead’s master-stroke, 
And breaking of the wands of ill. 
 
No man hath seen beneath my brows 
Eternity’s exultant house. 
No man hath noted in my brain 
The knowledge of my mystic spouse. 
I wait the centuries wax and wane. 
 
Poor, in the kingdom of strong gold, 
My power is swift and uncontrolled. 
Simple, amid the maze of lies ; 
A child, among the cruel old, 
I plot their stealthy destinies. 
 
So patient, in the breathless strife ; 
So silent, under scourge and knife ; 
So tranquil, in the surge of things ; 
I bring them from the well of Life, 
Love, from celestial water-springs ! 
 
From the shrill fountain-head of God 
I draw out water with the rod