Poems (Van Rensselaer)/Two Spirits
TWO SPIRITS
I
I am the master-spirit, Love the King.
Hardly is in the whole world anything
Beneath the sun and stars but when I say,
"Do this or that," it maketh answer "Yea."
Empires and conquests, friendships, pieties,
I wreck and ravage if I so but please;
And wreck and ravage, hatred and despair
Of men and gods, my mandate may repair.
All other powers unto my footstool bring
Their tribute, so to worship Love the King.
I am the master-spirit, Love the King.
Hardly is in the whole world anything
Beneath the sun and stars but when I say,
"Do this or that," it maketh answer "Yea."
Empires and conquests, friendships, pieties,
I wreck and ravage if I so but please;
And wreck and ravage, hatred and despair
Of men and gods, my mandate may repair.
All other powers unto my footstool bring
Their tribute, so to worship Love the King.
II
Nay, royal brother, look on me, a slave,
And boast not potency to blast or save.
Here in the dust I stand, the only one
Greater than thou beneath the stars and sun.
I work no ruin, but the spent revive;
And whom thou slayest, lo, I make alive.
Stronger in suppliance lifted is my hand,
O King, than thy bright sceptre of command.
The Lords of Life their utmost empire gave
Not unto thee, but unto Love the Slave.
Nay, royal brother, look on me, a slave,
And boast not potency to blast or save.
Here in the dust I stand, the only one
Greater than thou beneath the stars and sun.
I work no ruin, but the spent revive;
And whom thou slayest, lo, I make alive.
Stronger in suppliance lifted is my hand,
O King, than thy bright sceptre of command.
The Lords of Life their utmost empire gave
Not unto thee, but unto Love the Slave.