THE FATAL FORCE 43
And worship, seeing justice as a spouse
Lean on thine iron hand.
For Murder walks by night, and hides her face,
But righteous Wrath in the light, and knows his place;
For hate of a mother is ill, and the lightning flashes,
But foil a harlot’s will, burn the earth to ashes,
Cleanse the incestuous sty of a whore’s desire,
Scatter the dung to the sky, and burn her with fire!
So the avenging master shall cleanse his fate of shame,
Set his seal of disaster, a royal seal to his name.
[Exeunt.
PACHAD.
I am not Horus, but I shall be king.
Enter LEPER.
THE LEPER.
I am a leper, but I am the king.
PACHAD.
Monstrous illegible horror, let thy mouth
Frame from its charnel-house some pregnant word
Intelligible.
THE LEPER.
I am king; thy mother’s limbs
Clung fast to mine when I begot thy father.
PACHAD.
He died in battle; thou art not the king.