Because I sought it far from men,
In deserts and alone,
I found it burning overhead,
The jewel of a Throne.
Because I sought-I sought it so
And spent my days to find-
It blazed one moment ere it left
The blacker night behind.
We be the Gods of the East-
Older than all-
Masters of Mourning and Feast-
How shall we fall?
*
This I saw when the rites were done,
And the lamps were dead and the Gods alone,
And the grey snake coiled on the altar stone-
Ere I fled from a Fear that I could not see,
And the Gods of the East made mouths at me.