Wild and fearful in his cavern <br />Hid the naked troglodyte, <br />And the homeless nomad wandered <br />Laying waste the fertile plain. <br />Menacing with spear and arrow <br />In the woods the hunter strayed… <br />Woe to all poor wreteches stranded <br />On those cruel and hostile shores! <br />From the peak of high Olympus <br />Came the mother Ceres down, <br />Seeeking in those savage regions <br />Her lost daughter Prosperine. <br />But the Goddess found no refuge, <br />Found no kindly welcome there, <br />And no temple bearing witness <br />To the worship of the gods. <br /> <br />From the fields and from the vineyards <br />Came no fruit to deck the feasts, <br />Only flesh of blood-stained victims <br />Smouldered on the alter-fires, <br />And where'er the grieving goddess <br />Turns her melancholy gaze, <br />Sunk in vilest degradation <br />Man his loathsomeness displays. <br /> <br />Would he purge his soul from vileness <br />And attain to light and worth, <br />He must turn and cling forever <br />To his ancient Mother Earth. <br /> <br />Joy everlasting fostereth <br />The soul of all creation, <br />It is her secret ferment fires <br />The cup of life with flame. <br />'Tis at her beck the grass hath turned <br />Each blade toward the light <br />and solar systems have evolved <br />From chaos and dark night, <br />Filling the realms of boundless space <br />Beyond the sage's sight. <br /> <br />At bounteous nature's kindly breast, <br />All things that breath drink Joy, <br />And bird and beasts and creaping things <br />All follow where she leads. <br />Her gifts to man are friends in need, <br />The wreath, the foaming must, <br />To angels - visions of God's throne, <br />To insects - sensual lust.<br /><br />Anonymous Americas<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ode-to-joy-5/
