 | Annie Weir and Other Poems |  |
49
VERSES TO A (SUPPOSED) FOSSIL FISH.
[_]
[The following verses were suggested by a ball of ironstone, of a very fish-like shape, which was brought into the School of Mines, Glasgow, and which it was thought would prove one of the family of coal saurians, two of which have been found in the coal-measures of the carboniferous system. It proved to be no fish, however.]
And didst thou once frequent the sea
A living creature—could it be?
Let me wi' reverence lean owre thee
And view ilk part;
A wonder in the first degree
Thou surely art.
A living creature—could it be?
Let me wi' reverence lean owre thee
And view ilk part;
A wonder in the first degree
Thou surely art.
Oh, what a graceless form is thine!
Was that contorted ridge thy spine?
Did bony plates thy flesh confine,
Or wrinkled scale?
Did at that fracture smooth once join
A lang lithe tail?
Was that contorted ridge thy spine?
Did bony plates thy flesh confine,
Or wrinkled scale?
Did at that fracture smooth once join
A lang lithe tail?
50
Thy venturous path how didst thou guide
Throughout the wonder-peopled tide?
No trace of fin at back or side
Dost thou display:
Did gills the needfu' air provide,
Or nostrils, pray?
Throughout the wonder-peopled tide?
No trace of fin at back or side
Dost thou display:
Did gills the needfu' air provide,
Or nostrils, pray?
Strange creature of the auld-world brine,
Was this thy living form's outline?
Did at that oval mark once shine
A lashless e'e?
And didst thou other parts combine
Than those we see?
Was this thy living form's outline?
Did at that oval mark once shine
A lashless e'e?
And didst thou other parts combine
Than those we see?
Thou syllable in truth's narration,
Were sedgy shores thy habitation?
In life's unmeasured roll thy station
We fain would know.
Say, in the morning of creation
What part played thou?
Were sedgy shores thy habitation?
In life's unmeasured roll thy station
We fain would know.
Say, in the morning of creation
What part played thou?
51
Wert thou a thing of blood, to whom
The weaker tribes gave ample room?
That stony wame their living tomb—
Preserve us a'!
What thousands may have met their doom
Within that maw!
The weaker tribes gave ample room?
That stony wame their living tomb—
Preserve us a'!
What thousands may have met their doom
Within that maw!
Perhaps thou never saw the sea,
And lived from blood and murder free;
Thy home some tideless pool might be,
Deep fringed with heath,
Which, drying, 'mang its weeds left thee
In deathless death.
And lived from blood and murder free;
Thy home some tideless pool might be,
Deep fringed with heath,
Which, drying, 'mang its weeds left thee
In deathless death.
How came it that thou wert encased
Langsyne within the weedy paste,
Where calamites and tree-ferns chaste
Luxuriant waved?
What pickle strange from utter waste
Thy being saved?
Langsyne within the weedy paste,
Where calamites and tree-ferns chaste
Luxuriant waved?
What pickle strange from utter waste
Thy being saved?
52
When sound could penetrate thy ear
What awful voices thou wouldst hear,
As o'er the estuary drear
The storm would roar,
While huge amphibians sought in fear
The hutless shore.
What awful voices thou wouldst hear,
As o'er the estuary drear
The storm would roar,
While huge amphibians sought in fear
The hutless shore.
When life was thine, no human wile
Could to destruction thee beguile;
The fisher's art and hunter's toil
Were yet to be;
And maybe aft since then our isle
'S been 'neath the sea.
Could to destruction thee beguile;
The fisher's art and hunter's toil
Were yet to be;
And maybe aft since then our isle
'S been 'neath the sea.
I need not ask thee if thou e'er
The wild bird's morning song didst hear,
Around thee swelling far and near;
For though their glee
The loneliest human heart would cheer,
'Twas nought to thee.
The wild bird's morning song didst hear,
Around thee swelling far and near;
For though their glee
The loneliest human heart would cheer,
'Twas nought to thee.
53
Besides, 'tis maybe true that then
No wild birds warbled in the glen,
And morn unhailed rose o'er the fen
From year to year;
For music shunned the world till men
Her voice could hear.
No wild birds warbled in the glen,
And morn unhailed rose o'er the fen
From year to year;
For music shunned the world till men
Her voice could hear.
And yet, half-shocked, the fancy says,
'Tis strange if even those far days—
While rarest flowers adorned the braes
And ferns the plain—
The earth should have no birds to raise
The praiseful strain.
'Tis strange if even those far days—
While rarest flowers adorned the braes
And ferns the plain—
The earth should have no birds to raise
The praiseful strain.
Say, do they madly theorise
Who say our form from thine doth rise?
Art thou our father in disguise?
It may be true,
There yet a faint resemblance lies
About the mou'.
Who say our form from thine doth rise?
Art thou our father in disguise?
It may be true,
There yet a faint resemblance lies
About the mou'.
54
Thou etching of a wondrous plan,
What are our wizzen'd mummies gran'
Compared to thee, whose life-stream ran,
Syne ceased to flow,
Long cycles ere there was a man
To mak' ane o'.
What are our wizzen'd mummies gran'
Compared to thee, whose life-stream ran,
Syne ceased to flow,
Long cycles ere there was a man
To mak' ane o'.
But I may guess till doomsday bell
Shall ring the world's departing knell,
And aye return frae truth's deep well
With empty pail,
Unless thou deign'st to rise thysel'
And tell thy tale.
Shall ring the world's departing knell,
And aye return frae truth's deep well
With empty pail,
Unless thou deign'st to rise thysel'
And tell thy tale.
| Annie Weir and Other Poems | |