Loveliness of all lowly forms that be,

Gladness of ev’ry bird that gaily sings,

Ardour of eager beasts that hunt & kill,

Rapture of all life-raptur’d living things;

Yea man’s one rapture too & his life’s joy,

His strength, his beauty & his living will,

Each soul’s will to create & to destroy,—

O thou who visitest these dwellings, why

Thus deignest thou, who art so great & high?

VERSES AFTER HAFEZ