Page:The ascent of man by Blind, Mathilde.djvu/29

 And from the clash of warring Nature's strife Man day by day wins his imperilled life; For, goaded on by want, he hunts the roe, Chases the deer, and lays the wild boar low. In his rude boat made of the hollow trees He drifts adventurous on the unoared seas, And, as he tilts upon the rocking tide, Catches the glistening fish that flash and glide Innumerably through the waters wide. He'll fire the bush whose flames shall help him felfell [sic] The trunks to prop his roof, where he may dwell Beside the bubbling of a crystal well, Sheltered from drenching rains or noxious glare When the sun holds the zenith. Delving there, His cumbered wife, whose multifarious toil Seems never done, breaks the rich virgin soil, Rh