The Human Abstract - Hieronymus Bosch

Pity would be no more

If we did not make somebody poor

And mercy no more could be If all were as happy as we And mutual fear brings peace

Till the selfish loves increase

Then cruelty knits the 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 mistery over his head

And the caterpillar and fly

Feed on the mistery

And it bears the fruit deceit

Ruddy and sweet to eat

And the raven his nest has made

In its thickest shade

The Gods of the earth and see

Sought into nature to find this tree

But their search was all in vain

There grows one in the human brain