Pharaoh's Death Bark

Pharaoh's Death-Bark was coloured green,
Of the hue most often seen
In corn before its ripening;
White-robed priests in straining team
Had launched it on the sacred stream,
With incense for an offering.
Pharaoh's cedar cask had come
From the heights of Lebanon,
Inlaid with gold and silver spun,
With lapis and carnelian.
To the Chamber of Double Truth;
Where the scribes await the proof
Of his heart's undying youth.
Thoth, the god that keeps the case,
And black Anubis, jackal-faced,
Calmly wait the appointed place.
Where it will be reckoned whether
His heart, when weighed against a feather,
Will prove the lighter or the heavier.
Lightness of heart betokens one
To be transfigured in the sun,
A purer kingdom thereby won,
An Eden and Elysium;
A field of reeds, another Nile,
That flows eternally, undefiled.