A mountain's giddy height I sought, Because I could not find Sufficient vague and mighty thought To fill my mighty mind; And as I wandered ill at ease, There chanced upon my sight A native of Silurian seas, An ancient Trilobite. So calm, so peacefully he lay, I watched him even with tears: I thought of Monads far away In the forgotten years. How wonderful it seemed and right, The providential plan, That he should be a Trilobite, And I should be a Man! And then, quite natural and free Out of his rocky bed, That Trilobite he spoke to me And this is what he said: 'I don't know how the thing was done, Although I cannot doubt it; But Huxley -- he if anyone Can tell you all about it; 'How all your faiths are ghosts and dreams, How in the silent sea Your ancestors were Monotremes -- Whatever these may be; How you evolved your shining lights Of wisdom and perfection From Jelly-fish and Trilobites By Natural Selection. 'You've Kant to make your brains go round, Hegel you have to clear them, You've Mr. Browning to confound, And Mr. Punch to cheer them! The native of an alien land You call a man and brother, And greet with hymn-book in one hand And pistol in the other! 'You've Politics to make you fight As if you were possessed: You've cannon and you've dynamite To give the nations rest: The side that makes the loudest din Is surest to be right, And oh, a pretty fix you're in!' Remarked the Trilobite. 'But gentle, stupid, free from woe I lived among my nation, I didn't care -- I didn't know That I was a Crustacean. I didn't grumble, didn't steal, I @3never@1 took to rhyme: Salt water was my frugal meal, And carbonate of lime.' Reluctantly I turned away, No other word he said; An ancient Trilobite, he lay Within his rocky bed. I did not answer him, for that Would have annoyed my pride: I merely bowed, and raised my hat, But in my heart I cried: -- 'I wish our brains were not so good, I wish our skulls were thicker, I wish that Evolution could Have stopped a little quicker; For oh, it was a happy plight, Of liberty and ease, To be a simple Trilobite In the Silurian seas!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...YOUTH'S PROGENY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE OLD MEN by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS SONGS OF TRAVEL: 1. THE VAGABOND by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE PROCLAMATION by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER FIRST LOVE by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS STANZAS TO A FRIEND by BERNARD BARTON VERSES, SUGGESTED BY THE FUNERAL OF AN EPITAPH IN BURY CHURCH-YARD by BERNARD BARTON |