Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 01.djvu/326

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On the Nature of Man.
A mouse, great God, the sages all declareCreation's end: A work beyond compare!Vicious are cats, to eat us much inclined,But 'tis from error to reclaim our kind."Not far a multitude of geese are seen,Drawn up near woods and streams upon the green;Of pampered turkeys, troops that strut in state,And flocks that bend beneath their fleeces' weight,They cried: "The universe is ours alone,Whatever the Almighty made, we own."In the clear watery image whilst he grazed,The ass his beauty saw, and was amazed.He cries: "For asses God has made the earth,Man still attends me, he's my slave from birth;He curries, washes me, and, more, to please,Builds my seraglio, for my joys purveys;And happy to procure me soft delight,Brings a she-ass to crown my bliss at night:Often I laugh when I behold him pass,With haughty airs, as if he were an ass."Man came the next, his plea was much the same,He cried: "Heaven, earth, and elements, I claim:To waft me ocean rolls and winds arise;To give me light, stars glitter in the skies;Night's argent globe through heaven's clear azure glides,Increases, wanes, and o'er the stars presides;O'er all presides my vast, capacious mind,In the wide universe too close confined:
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