Classic Poem

I thought, before I learned to think,
That bread was food and water drink,
But now I know that drink and food
Are simple phases of the good.
My need of nourishment makes meat
Out of such things as I can eat;
Only that drink is drink in act
Which irrigates my thirsty tract;
And because I am slaked and fed
Water is water and bread bread.
Pips, bones, and gristle and the rest,
Express my failure to digest.
My mind, with all in thought comprised,
Is just digestion realized;
The whole world else, beyond all question,
Is my projected indigestion.
How came it that so bright a youth
Ever could doubt this limpid truth?
Because, concerning food and drink,
I thought before I learned to think.