Page:The Man Who Died Twice (1924).djvu/38

 You damned yourself while you were still alive.

You bulk of nothing, what do you say to that?

You paramount whale of lust and drunkenness,

You thing that was, what do you say to that?”

No man so near to glory as he was once

Was ever, I fancied, quite so inglorious

As in his penance—which is here somewhat

Softened in deference to necessity—

Fernando Nash revealed himself to me

In passionate reminiscence a year later.

Occasional strokes, at least, among the many

That I had counted must have registered

Luxurious and unmerited flagellation,

Wherein abasement was akin to pride,

If not a part of it. No man so mired

As he was in his narrative, I told him,