Fierce hunger has come upon me,
And neither meat nor wine can stay me ...
I am starved for men and women.

I want to go where the crowd is thickest,
Where the spot-light man colors the graceful favorite on the stage with green, then gold, then violet ...
Where the audience roars at the jocose comedian and the strong stout woman ...
Where I will be accepted, not by the Earth, but by my fellows.
Sinking back into rough good commonness, just a laugher and idler myself,
Warming the hands and heart of my soul at the blazing hearth of the people ...

To-morrow, business with the lordly Earth,
Sessions with my Self in aching privacy ...
To-night, crowds, lights, gaiety,
The cockles of my heart roasted as crisp as nuts,
And my lung-bellows roaring in the jolly brotherhood of the world.