 | A Lost Epic and Other Poems |  |
The Man and Woman wandered to and fro
In hordes and tribes and nations. They did eat
Of every beast and tree. The track of feet
Lay wide through polar snow and tropic sand.
No ocean beat on any utmost land
But some wild fisher watched the heaving blue.
Tribes thronged the sunset and the dawn. They knew
The glow of arctic and antarctic skies.
In savage lands they lived in wolfish wise.
The tree, the hanging rock, the cavern gave
Shelter for fire and slumber—and a grave.
Time changed them—colour and stature, hair and skin.
They knew not whence they came. They owned no kin.
The Man and Woman in them had forgot
All ancient days, the sad primeval lot,
The brotherhood of dust, the sword of fire.
In hordes and tribes and nations. They did eat
Of every beast and tree. The track of feet
Lay wide through polar snow and tropic sand.
No ocean beat on any utmost land
But some wild fisher watched the heaving blue.
Tribes thronged the sunset and the dawn. They knew
The glow of arctic and antarctic skies.
In savage lands they lived in wolfish wise.
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Shelter for fire and slumber—and a grave.
Time changed them—colour and stature, hair and skin.
They knew not whence they came. They owned no kin.
The Man and Woman in them had forgot
All ancient days, the sad primeval lot,
The brotherhood of dust, the sword of fire.
| A Lost Epic and Other Poems | |