I've seen how horses can with their hoofs

Tread on the hoarfrost and deep snow,

And with their hair they can withstand

The biting wind and severe cold; they feed

On the lush grass and drink icy water;

They prance with their legs and leap -- this is

The true nature of them, dwelling in freeside.

Though there're made for them grand stables

And spacious dormitories, they would prefer

Not to use them at all. But when some men arose

And said, "We know well how to breed horses,"

They proceeded to singe and mark them,

To clip their mane, to pare their hoofs, to halter

Their heads, to bridle and confine them in corrals.

They proceeded further to subject them to hunger

And thirst, to gallop them and race them and

To make them go together in regular order:

In front there were the evils of the bit

And hard breast-bands, but behind there're

The terrors of whipping and switching.

The first potter (whose name is forbidden to utter,

But you probably know whom I mean) once said,

"I know well how to deal with clay," and men

Proceeded then to mould it into circles as exact

As if made by the compass, and into squares

As exact as if formed by the measuring setsquare.

The first carpenter (whose name is forbidden to utter,

But you probably know whom I mean) once said,

"I know well how to deal with wood," and all men

Proceeded then to make it bent as if by application

Of the setsquare, and straight as if by application

Of the plumb-line. But is it the nature of clay and wood

To require the application of the compass and setsquare?

And yet, age after age men have praised those first grooms,

Saying, "They knew well how to breed horses," as well

The first potter and carpenter, saying, "They knew well

How to deal with clay and wood." But wasn't it the error

Committed by the founding fathers at the dawn of humanity?