Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNFIT, by HEINRICH LEHR First Line: A trillion trillion years ago Last Line: And grow into the sons of god. Subject(s): Army - United States; Military; Soldiers; Survival; World War I; First World War | ||||||||
A TRILLION trillion years ago, When men were low-browed apes, And, with swift dart of taloned fingers, caught some sleepy lizard or some fat old owl, And munched the still warm flesh delightedly; Then The Ape-man neatly clubbed his brother ape from off his upward path, And pattered on To cool his hairy body in the water-lilied ooze of some secluded lake, And scheme how, On some murky night, swinging by his tail down from the great oak's lowest, mossy limb, He might half choke his stronger baboon brother, And steal his slickest wife. And so the unfit died, And the strong and keen sired stronger, keener sons, In those old days a trillion trillion years ago, When God had gone to make a newer universe of worlds Where uni-cells might grow to apes, And apes to men, And men? Perhaps to be the sons of God. Now, Since those apes have grown to men with dome-like heads, And eat imported delicacies from every nook and corner of the earth, with seven forks, on gold-edged Haviland, (And do not need appendix-gizzards to grind up the swallowed bones); And wear frocks and suits and coats and hats and shoes and hose and gloves; buttoned, pinned or laced; that change in style each fortnight; And bathe in porcelain, hot-sprayed, cold-sprayed, massaged with perfumed talc, and manicured; And rarely ever steal their neighbors' wives (Contented to applaud the movie villain daring the vile deed); Now, Since mankind has grown fully civilized, With laws and moral codes, And with enlight'ning scientific Truth; Now, When some pigmy Man-ape king, With tinseled retinue of hollow-chested money princelings, Meets another pigmy Man-ape king upon the world's highway, With another tinseled retinue of hollow-chested money princelings, And neither Man-ape king will bow the knee to t'other, NOW, No kingly arm strikes rival king from off the "upward path." Nay, nay! That Were barbaric: NOW, Conscripted herds of stalwart henchmen, strong of brawn and clear of brain, Are set to gore each other to the death, While the smug weaklings lounge on cushioned grand-stand seats Till all the grain fields are a lake of crimsoned stench: Till crimsoned skies rain down red blood upon the crimsoned seas; Till Hell's red fires are quenched with floods of redder blood, that gush from murdered men-souls' wounds; Till By and by, When the smug weaklings in the grand-stand have grown weary of the show, They "call the war-dogs off," And then The pigmy Man-ape kings embrace and kiss, And each one goes his cultured way, with all his tinseled, hollow-chested, money princelings, As becomes a Man-ape, civilized. So there is left a world of weakling men, Where one-lunged Man-apes mate with epileptic maids, and rear up idiot sons, (For perfect Mind fruits not on worm-bored trees, And not the crucifixion of a hundred Christs could e'er redeem the rotten bodies of degenerates.) Thus, In some hundred centuries, When the awful tolls of war are fully paid, We may once more be apes. By then, Perhaps God will be tired of making other worlds where uni-cells may grow to apes, and apes to men; And, coming back, Perhaps He will untangle the crossed wires of earth-progression, So that men may dwell in peace together to the end of time, And grow into the sons of God. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...D'ANNUNZIO by ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1915: THE TRENCHES by CONRAD AIKEN TO OUR PRESIDENT by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE HORSES by KATHARINE LEE BATES CHILDREN OF THE WAR by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE U-BOAT CREWS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE RED CROSS NURSE by KATHARINE LEE BATES WAR PROFITS by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE UNCHANGEABLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN PSALM 136 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |
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