Leaves rustling lullabies o'erhead.

And lo, 'mid reeking swarms of earth

Grim struggling in the primal wood,

A new strange creature hath its birth:

Wild—stammering—nameless—shameless—nude;

Spurred on by want, held in by fear,

He hides his head in caverns drear.

Most unprotected of earth's kin,

His fight for life that seems so vain

[15]

Sharpens his senses, till within

The twilight mazes of his brain,

Like embryos within the womb,

Thought pushes feelers through the gloom.

And slowly in the fateful race

It grows unconscious, till at length

The helpless savage dares to face

The cave-bear in his grisly strength;

For stronger than its bulky thews

He feels a force that grows with use.

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