THE FATAL FORCE 55
Speak, that I rise from chaos, from the world
Of shapeless and illusionary forms,
And dead men’s husks, and unsubstantial things.
O mother, mother, mother! I arise!
RATOUM.
Horus, dread godhead, child of me, arise!
Arise Osiris, to the sacred rites:
And marriage-bed of fuller deity,
Now, at the serpent-motion of this wand,
Rise from the dead! Arise, dead Horus, rise
To be Osiris. Isis speaks! Arise!
| Zhe coffin ts opened. The leper ts raised out of
zt swathed in bandages.
Out of the sleep of ages wake and live!
[ The wrappings fall off.
THE LEPER.
I am the resurrection and the death!
[Ratoum falls back shrieking. The priests raise
a chant to stifle the sound.
PACHAD (tearing off his mask).
I am the hideous poison of thy veins
And foulest fruit of thy incestuous womb.
RATOUM.
I am thy mother! I have nurtured thee
With woman’s tenderness and godhead’s strength.
PACHAD.
I am the avenger of my own false birth.