Are rife in fairest grove and dell,

Turning earth's flowery haunts to hell.

A hell of hunger, hatred, lust,

Which goads all creatures here below,

Or blindworm wriggling in the dust,

Or penguin in the Polar snow:

A hell where there is none to save,

Where life is life's insatiate grave.

And in the long portentous strife,

Where types are tried even as by fire,

Where life is whetted upon life

And step by panting step mounts higher,

[14]

Apes lifting hairy arms now stand

And free the wonder-working hand.

They raise a light, aërial house

On shafts of widely branching trees,

Where, harboured warily, each spouse

May feed her little ape in peace,

Green cradled in his heaven-roofed bed,

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