Page:The Man Who Died Twice (1924).djvu/85

 In darker water than where ships go down

Hull-crushed at midnight. When he told me that,

He may have had a vision of himself

In his last, starless plunge. “Make a swift end

Of what I leave behind,” he said to me.

“Burn me to ashes; and when that is done,

Take me somewhere to sea and let me sink,

And fear not for my soul. I have found that,

Though I have lost all else. All but those drums;

And they are but the last hope of the devil.

Mine are the drums of life—and they are mine.

You may not like them. All I ask of you

Is to believe me when I say to you

That what I had, I had. It was no dream

That followed me so long, and found me only

To make of me a child that should henceforth

Go into streets and beat the drums of life.