TRUTH: Man, dull brute, mistaking the thud of his feet for the
rolling of the spheres, is willing the Great Mother Should go about her work freely in his poor body, Casting out the poisons which destroy him, But he is not willing she should freely Cast out the poisons of the greater body. Even the beasts accept the impenetrabilities of Nature, But Man has substituted an image of himself, Who for prayers and bribes pretends To modify those edicts which lift the fires of Creation, And guide the stars in their wandering ; Which weave the wings of the winds and shape the
crystal orbs of the rain, Not caring if the fields have sinned ; Which nurse the silver spawn of the herring Amid the brown and undulant seaweed As tenderly as the spawn of Man.
POET:
Nature is simple ; yet inscrutable, eternally impregnable ;
But her own insect would control her
With the infirmity of his ignorance.
The blind beetle seeks to order his brother's footsteps.
TRUTH: Nature is like the stars, unvarying ; determined ; . She has set her conditions, equal unto all. She is merciless and full of mercy.
POET: She claims no authority ; she invokes no force.
TRUTH: She knows no rulers.
POET:
She seems deaf, but her deafness is wisdom.
29
