8
THE ASCENT OF MAN.
Ribbed and ravaged and rent there rose bald peaks
and the rocky
Heights of confederate mountains compelling the
fugitive vapours
To take a form as they passed them and float as
clouds through the azure.
Mountains, the broad-bosomed mothers of torrents
and rivers perennial,
Feeding the rivers and plains with patient
persistence, till slowly,
In the swift passage of æons recorded in stone by
Time's graver,
There germ grey films of the lichen and mosses
and palm-ferns gigantic,
And jungle of tropical forest fantastical branches
entwining,
And limitless deserts of sand and wildernesses
primeval.
