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AH! What avails the classic bent![]() Against the undoctored incident ![]() And what is Art whereto we press ![]() When Nature in her nakedness ![]() It is not learning, grace nor gear, ![]() But bitter pinch of pain and fear ![]() When in this world's unpleasing youth ![]() The longest arm, the sharpest tooth, ![]() Till, bruised and bitten to the bone ![]() He learned to deal the far-off stone, ![]() So tooth and nail were obsolete ![]() Till, bored by uniform defeat, ![]() Then stone and javelin proved as vain ![]() Till, spurred anew by fear and pain, ![]() Then was there safety for the rich ![]() Till someone mixed a powder which ![]() Helmet and armour disappeared ![]() And, when the smoke of battle cleared, ![]() . . . And when ten million such were slain ![]() Man, schooled in bulk by fear and pain, ![]() And, at the very hour designed, ![]() His tooth-stone-arrow-gun-shy mind ![]() All Power, each Tyrant, every Mob ![]() Ends by destroying its own job ![]() And Man, whose mere necessities ![]() Trembles meanwhile at their decrees, ![]() |