A poem by Walt Whitman I have hanging on my wall.



            Animals

I think i could turn and live with animals ,

    they are so placid and self-contained

I stand and look at them long and long .

They do not sweat and whine about their condition ,

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins ,

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God ,

Not one is dissatisfied ,

    not one is demented with the mania of owning things ,

Not one kneels to another ,

    nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago ,

Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth .