The doomed to perish are already dead

Who woo not Fate with swift unerring deeds!

That breathless moment when the tigress bleeds

Is ours to strike in, ere the tigress spring!

What could it boot your servant to be king

While any moment may the trumpets cry,

Hailing the certain hour when we shall die—

Caesar, the deaf, and his untrusted slave?

Peer deep, peer deep into this yawning grave

And tell me who shall fill it!—Wind and fire,