171
Lizard and mastodon,
Worm, leaf, stone, bright green blade,
Hill, river, and so on --
When we, in what we do
Ravage it all -- this, too,
Is a natural result
For us, the boldest one
Of all her experiments;
In which to fail, long since
We've learned is not a fault.
Experiments mostly fail.
Ours had a good long run.
"Many the wonders," so
Sophocles long ago
Remarked, "and of them none
To match us."
Let that be
(With ambiguity
Worked in by history)
Of all that we can see
Of what, now, we have done,
The thing to refl ect on.
Just so the voice-vision spoke,
And cold and stiff I woke.
Whether the dream was so
I'm not the one to know.