Contemplation would make a good life, keep it strict, only br The eyes of a desert skull drinking the sun, br Too intense for flesh, lonely br Exultations of white bone; br Pure action would make a good life, let it be sharp- br Set between the throat and the knife. br A man who knows death by heart br Is the man for that life. br In pleasant peace and security br How suddenly the soul in a man begins to die. br He shall look up above the stalled oxen br Envying the cruel falcon, br And dig under the straw for a stone br To bruise himself on.