Everyone laughed at Col. Prichard <br />For buying an engine so powerful <br />That it wrecked itself, and wrecked the grinder <br />He ran it with. <br />But here is a joke of cosmic size: <br />The urge of nature that made a man <br />Evolve from his brain a spiritual life -- <br />Oh miracle of the world! -- <br />The very same brain with which the ape and wolf <br />Get food and shelter and procreate themselves. <br />Nature has made man do this, <br />In a world where she gives him nothing to do <br />After all -- (though the strength of his soul goes round <br />In a futile waste of power. <br />To gear itself to the mills of the gods) -- <br />But get food and shelter and procreate himself!<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/professor-newcomer/
