Chapter 14 Human Abstraction Translated by Blake Zhang Chiheng

no more kindness If everyone is as happy as we are There will be no mercy either if some people are not made poor mutual fear breeds harmony until selfish love grows So cruelty weaves its net Spread the bait carefully He sat down in awe water the earth with his tears Then humility is at his feet Stretched out its tangled roots soon above his head casts a mysterious shadow And for those caterpillars and flies Mystery is their food it finally bears the fruit of fraud Red, sweet and delicious The ducks use the thick shade make his lair Gods of land and sea search nature for this tree

But they're just looking for a game in vain There is a plant in the human brain Pity would be no more. If we did not make somebody Pooe. And Mercy no more could be. If all were as happy as we; And mutual fear brings peace; Till the selfsh loves increase. Then Cruelty knits a snare, And spreads his baits with care. He sits down with holy fears, And waters the ground with tears: Then Humility takes its root Underneath his foot. Soon spreads the dismal shade Of Mystery over his head; And the Catterpiller and Fly, Feed on the Mystery. And it bears the fruit of Deceit,

Ruddy and sweet to eat; And the Raven his nest has made In its thickest shade. The Gods of the earth and sea Sought thro Nature to find this Tree, But their search was all in vain: There grows one in the Human Brain.