Page:The Muse in Arms, Osborn (ed), 1917.djvu/335

 CXXX

UT I was dead, an hour or more:

I woke when I'd already passed the door

That Cerberus guards and half-way down the road

To Lethe, as an old Greek sign-post showed.

Above me, on my stretcher swinging by,

I saw new stars in the sub-terrene sky,

A Cross, a Rose in Bloom, a Cage with Bars,

And a barbed Arrow feathered with fine stars.

I felt the vapours of forgetfulness

Float in my nostrils: Oh, may Heaven bless

Dear Lady Proserpine, who saw me wake

And, stooping over me, for Henna's sake

Cleared my poor buzzing head and sent me back

Breathless, with leaping heart along the track.

After me roared and clattered angry hosts

Of demons, heroes, and policeman-ghosts.

"Life, life! I can't be dead, I won't be dead: 293