I HAD found out a gift for my fair, I had found where the cave-men were laid; Skull, femur, and pelvis were there, And spears, that of silex they made. But he ne'er could be true, she averred, Who would dig up an ancestor's grave -- And I loved her the more when I heard Such filial regard for the Cave. My shelves, they are furnished with stones All sorted and labelled with care, And a splendid collection of bones, Each one of them ancient and rare; One would think she might like to retire To my study -- she calls it a "hole!" Not a fossil I heard her admire, But I begged it, or borrowed, or stole. But there comes an idealess lad, With a strut, and a stare, and a smirk; And I watch, scientific though sad, The Law of Selection at work. Of Science he hasn't a trace, He seeks not the How and the Why, But he sings with an amateur's grace, And he dances much better than I. And we know the more dandified males By dance and by song win their wives -- 'Tis a law that with Aves prevails, And even in Homo survives. Shall I rage as they whirl in the valse? Shall I sneer as they carol and coo? Ah no! for since Chloe is false, I'm certain that Darwin is true! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SHAPE OF THE CORONER by WALLACE STEVENS THE ANGEL, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE BREST LEFT BEHIND by JOHN CHIPMAN FARRAR TO THE REPUBLIC by JAMES GALVIN THE BARD; A PINDARIC ODE by THOMAS GRAY NATURE; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ON SOME BUTTERCUPS by FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN |