Page:The Man Who Died Twice (1924).djvu/34

 That sail away to sink, praise be to rats!

If you were one, you'd never find another

For shipmate. He would know you for a fool,

And therefore dangerous. You're not even a rat;

For a good rat will wait for what is coming,

Whether it comes or not. You could not wait,

Knowing that it must come. You had it—once.

You had enough of it to make you know,

And were among the sceptred of the few

In having it. But where’s your sceptre now?

You threw it away; and then went wallowing

After that other music, and those drums—

Assured by more than man’s authority

That all you had not then was only waiting

To make of that which once was you a torch

Of sound and fire that was to flood the world

With wonder, and overwhelm those drums of death