1. I returned in my thoughts to the distant past,
And said to the ape of the jungle: O ape!

2. You turned in wombs for ages, then
Begot your son, man, that rare child.

3. So you brought him upright and proud,
Yet to my life he was evil's worst enemy.

4. But still I keep you in memory,
And am still your partisan in praise and eulogy.

5. For you are the ancestor of all humankind,
In every spot of earth, pleasant or sterile.

6. Only those still close to you in ignorance and spite
Deny this truth, out of envy and malice.

7. As for him whose intellect and genius
Have taken him far from you, he is no denier.