EVOLUTION: AT THE MIND'S CINEMA 



I turn the handle and the story starts: 

 Reel after reel is all astronomy. 

 Till life, enkindled in a niche of sky, 



Leaps on the stage to play a million parts. 



Life leaves the slime and through all ocean darts; 



She conquers earth, and raises wings to fly; 



Then spirit blooms, and learns how not to die, — 

 Nesting beyond the grave in others' hearts. 



— I turn the handle: other men like me 

 Have made the film: and now I sit and look 

 In quiet, privileged like Divinity 

 To read the roaring world as in a book. 



If this thy past, where shall thy future climb, 

 O Spirit, built of Elements and Time! 



Munich, Jan. 1923. 



