The man-brained and man-handed ground-ape, physically br The most repulsive of all hot-blooded animals br Up to that time of the world: they had dug a pitfall br And caught a mammoth, but how could their sticks and stones br Reach the life in that hide? They danced around the pit, shrieking br With ape excitement, flinging sharp flints in vain, and the stench of their bodies br Stained the white air of dawn; but presently one of them br Remembered the yellow dancer, wood-eating fire br That guards the cave-mouth: he ran and fetched him, and others br Gathered sticks at the wood’s edge; they made a blaze br And pushed it into the pit, and they fed it high, around the mired sides br Of their huge prey. They watched the long hairy trunk br Waver over the stifle trumpeting pain, br And they were happy. br br Meanwhile the intense color and nobility of sunrise, br Rose and gold and amber, flowed up the sky. Wet rocks were shining, a little wind br Stirred the leaves of the forest and the marsh flag-flowers; the soft valley between the low hills br Became as beautiful as the sky; while in its midst, hour after hour, the happy hunters br Roasted their living meat slowly to death. br br These are the people. br This is the human dawn. As for me, I would rather br br Be a worm in a wild apple than a son of man. br But we are what we are, and we might remember br Not to hate any person, for all are vicious; br And not be astonished at any evil, all are deserved; br And not fear death; it is the only way to be cleansed.