Page:The Five Nations.djvu/125

Rh As we remember the sacrifice

Dead men an hundred laid—

Slain while they served His mysteries

And that He would not aid.

Not though we gashed ourselves and wept,

For the high-priest bade us wait;

Saying He went on a journey or slept,

Or was drunk or had taken a mate.

(Praise ye Rimmon, King of Kings,

Who ruleth Earth and Sky!

And again I bow as the censer swings

And the God Enthroned goes by.)

Ay, we remember His sacred ark

And the virtuous men that knelt

To the dark and the hush behind the dark

Wherein we dreamed He dwelt;

Until we entered to hale Him out,

And found no more than an old

Uncleanly image girded about

The loins with scarlet and gold.