Page:The Man Who Died Twice (1924).djvu/40

 Where have you been that you should think you know?

Do you remember when I told you once

That every sleeve of genius hides a knife

That will, if necessary, carve a way

Through snakes and oxen? Most that I said then

Has gone with all the rest, but I keep this

As a memorial of my retribution.

I wonder if a notion has yet seized you

To bury the keenest sword you ever saw

For twenty years in mud, and then go back

To find what may be left of it. If not,

You need not. Save your curiosity

Two decades of unprofitable conjecture,

And look at me. Look at Fernando Nash,—

The heir-apparent of a throne that’s ashes,