OH, the wild ways of living!

The leaping from rock up to rock,

The strong rending of boughs from the fir-tree,

The cool silver shock

Of the plunge in a pool's living water,

The hunt of the bear,

And the sultriness showing the lion is couched in his lair.

And the meal, the rich yellowed over the gold dust divine,

And the locust-flesh steeped in the pitcher,

The full draught of wine,

And the sleep in the dried river-channel where bulrushes tell

That the water was wont to go warbling so softly and well.

How good is man's life,

The mere living! How fit to employ

All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!