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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE THEME AND THE PUPPET, by LETA GRACE BORLAND
First Line: What if, at length came light through primal gloom
Last Line: The theme lives on, the puppet only lives awhile.
Variant Title(s): We Live Awhile
Subject(s): Evolution; Mankind; Human Race
First Line: What if, at length came light through primal gloom
Last Line: The theme lives on, the puppet only lives awhile.
Variant Title(s): We Live Awhile
Subject(s): Evolution; Mankind; Human Race
What if, at length, came light through primal gloom,
And time did dawn while heartening radiance lay
On paleozoic ooze that woke to bloom
And clothe the earth with verdure for the day?
What if the mists resolved to sea and sky,
And steaming swamps gave forth a varied life,
And swimming things did spawn and learn to fly,
And change came, rooted deep in carnal strife?
What if when time in eons fled, and earth
Rocked with the rhythm of the cosmic ray,
Plied with creation's power on cosmic dearth,
Evolved the human from essential clay?
Warmed, born, and brought to form through cosmic guile,
The theme lives on, the puppet only lives awhile.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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HOW MUCH EARTH by PHILIP LEVINE
THE SHEEP IN THE RUINS by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH
THE CONQUERORS by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY
THE MARMOZET by HILAIRE BELLOC
MEN, WOMEN, AND EARTH by ROBERT BLY
BROTHERS: 3. AS FOR MYSELF by LUCILLE CLIFTON
THE MAKING OF MAN by JOHN WHITE CHADWICK