166 NATURE IN A CITY YARD 



feel our avatar and almost see the hand 

 that offers it. Fears of the ennui of eter- 

 nity leave us, for we find that existence can 

 be a joy. Nature will not press us back 

 to savagery so long as we keep in touch 

 with the striving spirit that animates all 

 things, that has given wings to the reptile 

 and let man evolve from the monkey. 



There is deep truth in the allegory 

 of Hercules's opponent who regained his 

 strength whenever he touched the earth, 

 and was not vanquished until he had been 

 held in air so long that his power had left 

 him. Simple forms, like the jelly-fish, that 

 keep near nature and are elementary, have 

 powers of creation and recuperation that 

 make us ridiculous ; and the trees, also, 

 draw life right out of the soil. Why might 

 not we do so, too, instead of taking what the 

 trees have taken we parasites of parasites? 



The life that was potent in cosmic dust 

 and chaos flame inheres in silence, and 

 those of subtler sight and hearing com- 

 mune with it. We need to go back to the 

 fields to renew mental and spiritual strength, 

 to cool our brains after they have been 



