 | A Lost Epic and Other Poems |  |
57
Were men in myriads. These were they who chased
The elephant and ostrich; they who fed
On marrow of lions on the watershed
Of mighty rivers; they who lived on canes
And locusts; they who roamed in sail-drawn wains
With flocks and herds, and made the heavens their fold;
And serpent-eaters, wearing coils of gold;
And fisher-folk, who slept on rafts of logs,
And throve on river-fish and milk of dogs;
And last, in regions green with sun and rain,
The husbandmen who planted roots and grain,
And dwelt in huts of water-reeds and mud.
And all these had forgot the brotherhood
Of man, the Garden days, the sword of fire.
| A Lost Epic and Other Poems | |