WITHOUT OUR KNOWING WHY

We should remember Even things that follow After things Which are produced According Unto nature Contain something pleasing And attractive The way that loaves of bread split open On top in the oven The ridges just by-products of the baking And yet somehow pleasing They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why How ripe figs begin to burst And olives on the point of falling The shadow of decay Gives them peculiar beauty Stalks of wheat Bending under their own weight The furrowed brow of the lion Flecks of foam on the boar's mouth And other things So many other things If you look at them in isolation There's nothing beautiful about them And yet by supplementing nature They enrich it and draw us in They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why And anyone With a feeling for nature A deeper sensitivity For that produced within the universe Will find it all gives pleasure Even what seems inadvertent He'll find the real live Gaping jaws of wild beats Just as beautiful As imitations rendered by great artists He'll look calmly On the distinct beauty Of old men and women And the young alike He'll look on with chaste eyes And he will recognize So many wonders Unnoticed by others They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why They rouse our appetites Without our knowing why Without our knowing why Things seen Only at home by those With Nature And all of her works Things seen Only at home by those With Nature And all of her works