Chapter 4

POEMS OF EVOLUTION

EVOLUTIONLangdon Smith

IWhen you were a tadpole and I was a fish,In the Paleozoic time,And side by side on the ebbing tideWe sprawled through the ooze and slime,Or skittered with many a caudal flipThrough the depths of the Cambrian fen,My heart was rife with the joy of lifeFor I loved you even then.IIMindless we lived and mindless we loved,And mindless at last we died;And deep in a rift of the Caradoc driftWe slumbered side by side.The world turned on in the lathe of time,The hot lands heaved amain,Till we caught our breath from the womb of death,And crept into light again.IIIWe were Amphibians, scaled and tailedAnd drab as a dead man’s hand;We coiled at ease ’neath the dripping trees,Or trailed through the mud and sand,Croaking and blind, with our three-clawed feetWriting a language dumb,With never a spark in the empty darkTo hint at a life to come.IVYet happy we lived, and happy we loved,And happy we died once more;Our forms were rolled in the clinging moldOf a Neocomian shore.The eons came, and the eons fled,And the sleep that wrapped us fastWas riven away in a newer day,And the night of death was past.VThen light and swift through the jungle treesWe swung in our airy flights,Or breathed in the balms of the fronded palms,In the hush of the moonless nights.And oh! what beautiful years were these,When our hearts clung each to each;When life was filled, and our senses thrilledIn the first faint dawn of speech.VIThus life by life, and love by love,We passed through the cycles strange,And breath by breath, and death by death,We followed the chain of change.Till there came a time in the law of lifeWhen over the nursing sodThe shadows broke, and the soul awokeIn a strange, dim dream of God.VIII was thewed like an Auroch bull,And tusked like the great Cave Bear;And you, my sweet, from head to feet,Were gowned in your glorious hair.Deep in the gloom of a fireless cave,When the night fell o’er the plain,And the moon hung red o’er the river bed,We mumbled the bones of theslain.VIIII flaked a flint to a cutting edge,And shaped it with brutish craft;I broke a shank from the woodland dank,And fitted it, head and haft.Then I hid me close to the reedy tarn,Where theMammoth came todrink;—Through brawn and bone I drave the stone,And slew him upon the brink.IXLoud I howled through the moonlit wastes,Loud answered our kith and kin;From west and east to the crimson feastThe clan came trooping in.O’er joint and gristle and padded hoof,We fought and clawed and tore,And cheek by jowl, with many a growl,We talked the marvel o’er.XI carved that fight on a reindeer bone,With rude and hairy hand,I pictured his fall on the cavern wallThat men might understand.For we lived by blood, and the right of might,Ere human laws were drawn,And the Age of Sin did not beginTill our brutal tusks were gone.XIAnd that was a million years ago,In a time that no man knows;Yet here tonight in the mellow light,We sit at Delmonico’s;Your eyes are deep as the Devon springs,Your hair is as dark as jet,Your years are few, your life is new,Your soul untried, andyet—XIIOur trail is on the Kimmeridge clay,And the scarp of the Purbeck flags,We have left our bones in the Bagshot stones,And deep in the Coraline crags;Our love is old, our lives are old,And death shall come amain;Should it come today, what man may sayWe shall not live again?XIIIGod wrought our souls from the Tremadoc bedsAnd furnished them wings to fly;He sowed our spawn in the world’s dim dawn,And I know that it shall not die;Though cities have sprung above the gravesWhere the crook-boned men made war,And the ox-wain creaks o’er the buried cavesWhere the mummied mammoths are.XIVThenas we linger at luncheon here,O’er many a dainty dish,Let us drink anew to the time when youWere a Tadpole and I was a Fish.

When you were a tadpole and I was a fish,

In the Paleozoic time,

And side by side on the ebbing tide

We sprawled through the ooze and slime,

Or skittered with many a caudal flip

Through the depths of the Cambrian fen,

My heart was rife with the joy of life

For I loved you even then.

Mindless we lived and mindless we loved,

And mindless at last we died;

And deep in a rift of the Caradoc drift

We slumbered side by side.

The world turned on in the lathe of time,

The hot lands heaved amain,

Till we caught our breath from the womb of death,

And crept into light again.

III

We were Amphibians, scaled and tailed

And drab as a dead man’s hand;

We coiled at ease ’neath the dripping trees,

Or trailed through the mud and sand,

Croaking and blind, with our three-clawed feet

Writing a language dumb,

With never a spark in the empty dark

To hint at a life to come.

Yet happy we lived, and happy we loved,

And happy we died once more;

Our forms were rolled in the clinging mold

Of a Neocomian shore.

The eons came, and the eons fled,

And the sleep that wrapped us fast

Was riven away in a newer day,

And the night of death was past.

Then light and swift through the jungle trees

We swung in our airy flights,

Or breathed in the balms of the fronded palms,

In the hush of the moonless nights.

And oh! what beautiful years were these,

When our hearts clung each to each;

When life was filled, and our senses thrilled

In the first faint dawn of speech.

Thus life by life, and love by love,

We passed through the cycles strange,

And breath by breath, and death by death,

We followed the chain of change.

Till there came a time in the law of life

When over the nursing sod

The shadows broke, and the soul awoke

In a strange, dim dream of God.

VII

I was thewed like an Auroch bull,

And tusked like the great Cave Bear;

And you, my sweet, from head to feet,

Were gowned in your glorious hair.

Deep in the gloom of a fireless cave,

When the night fell o’er the plain,

And the moon hung red o’er the river bed,

We mumbled the bones of theslain.

VIII

I flaked a flint to a cutting edge,

And shaped it with brutish craft;

I broke a shank from the woodland dank,

And fitted it, head and haft.

Then I hid me close to the reedy tarn,

Where theMammoth came todrink;—

Through brawn and bone I drave the stone,

And slew him upon the brink.

Loud I howled through the moonlit wastes,

Loud answered our kith and kin;

From west and east to the crimson feast

The clan came trooping in.

O’er joint and gristle and padded hoof,

We fought and clawed and tore,

And cheek by jowl, with many a growl,

We talked the marvel o’er.

I carved that fight on a reindeer bone,

With rude and hairy hand,

I pictured his fall on the cavern wall

That men might understand.

For we lived by blood, and the right of might,

Ere human laws were drawn,

And the Age of Sin did not begin

Till our brutal tusks were gone.

And that was a million years ago,

In a time that no man knows;

Yet here tonight in the mellow light,

We sit at Delmonico’s;

Your eyes are deep as the Devon springs,

Your hair is as dark as jet,

Your years are few, your life is new,

Your soul untried, andyet—

XII

Our trail is on the Kimmeridge clay,

And the scarp of the Purbeck flags,

We have left our bones in the Bagshot stones,

And deep in the Coraline crags;

Our love is old, our lives are old,

And death shall come amain;

Should it come today, what man may say

We shall not live again?

XIII

God wrought our souls from the Tremadoc beds

And furnished them wings to fly;

He sowed our spawn in the world’s dim dawn,

And I know that it shall not die;

Though cities have sprung above the graves

Where the crook-boned men made war,

And the ox-wain creaks o’er the buried caves

Where the mummied mammoths are.

XIV

Thenas we linger at luncheon here,

O’er many a dainty dish,

Let us drink anew to the time when you

Were a Tadpole and I was a Fish.

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