46 THE FATAL FORCE
Or nerve set shrieking, all these ruinous deeds
And dissolution of the royal house.
I see this grey unnatural mother of mine
Now, as she is, disrobed of deity,
And like some reeling procuress grown wolf
By infamous bewitchment, haunt the stairs,
And pluck the young men by the robe, and take
The maidens for her sacrifice, and burn
With great unquenchable dead lustrous eyes
Toward impossible things grown possible
In Egypt. I will cleanse the land of this.
Let me remember I am yet a god!
Re-enter LEPER.
THE LEPER.
Thou must be brought before her presently
Borne in a coffin. See thou fill it not,
But take the lion’s mask and play his part
Before the throne. Be ready, and be strong.
PACHAD.
I shall do so. Come, let us go together
In hateful love and sacrilegious hate,
Disease and godhead. I am still the god.
[ Exeunt.
Enter RATOUM.
RATOUM.
I stood upon the desert, and my eyes
Beheld the splendid and supernal dawn
Flame underneath the single star that burns