 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
Evolution
I.
Because the gradual growth of things we see,And naught at once mature and perfect made;
From tiny seed the lofty branching tree,
Yielding at length its fruit and thick-leaved shade;
Or, from the egg, we see the bird, or beast,
By gradual growth to perfect stature grow;
Tracing all forms the mightiest from the least;
We think the origin of things we know.
In the same order we ourselves do live,
Nor aught immediate see, nor understand;
But to phenomena a meaning give,
As if man's narrow thought had Nature planned;
Nor rise with reverent mind and faith sublime,
Above the encircling bounds of space and time.
II.
Man's thoughts turn on himself; and whence is Man?He asks. What countless forms, and changes vast,
Since first his life upon the earth began!
In vain do we interrogate the past;
The torch of knowledge doth but dimly show
His path from land to land, from clime to clime;
And who, by natural descent, can know
His origin, or era date in time?
Yet is he one, where'er his feet have trod;
Though changed in mind, as well as outward frame,
Created in the image of his God,
494
Our brother still, and destined too, as we,
To show the ages of eternity.
Poem No. 63; c. 3 April 1875 (ll. 1–14); c. 12 May 1876 (ll. 15–28)
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