It was thus, of those who started,

We who took the forms of men

Got our early goals recharted,

Started upward once again.

For those who grouped together,

Building shelters, picking fruit,

Could withstand more bitter weather,

Could sink a deeper root.

This way, we came to understand,

If hard times struck a few

Their fellow men could lend a hand

And we might all pull through.

This gave us something new that we

Had never known before,

Another way for life to be,

With more than death in store.

For when a man grew weary now

Of struggling to survive

His friends would help him out somehow

That he might stay alive.

This way we found another aim,

Another goal in life

Beyond the mere survival game,

Beyond the endless strife.

No more just striving not to die,

At living now we played,

To dream new dreams and then to try

How real they might be made.

Thus helping one another

Gave us all a chance to grow;

By working with each other

Each can learn what others know.

Now we could see the path ahead

Was leading toward the light.

Less death, and more of life instead;

We had things going right.

By helping one another

To fulfill each basic need

We made a chance for other

Aims of being to succeed.

We began to think of beauty,

Planting flowers just for joy

And refining skills we knew we

Might more artfully employ.

Our shelters grew to towers,

Slender spires of artful grace,

Blooming gardens now of flowers

Grew in every open space.

Soon artifacts of every kind

For easing labor's strains

And cultivation for the mind

Were adding to our gains.

This way we built a nation,

And from that nation came

A great civilization

With a proud and mighty name.

We were proud and mighty masters

Of the world and all its ways

But a series of disasters

Brought an ending to our days.